Virtuous Bullet
by Addira
Summary: The triumvirate Shepards start with a good life. Then Akuze hits the eldest, the second is unfairly kicked out of the Alliance, and the third can't to pursue her dream because of belated biotics. After Saren, when things started to look up... the eldest dies in space. Now she's been brought back but things are not the same since she left... In times like these: Who's your Paragon
1. Memories

Virtuous Bullet: Spaced

Memories

Static sounds could be heard from the tape. It was old and the filming wasn't the best quality. It showed the world as it once was back on Earth before the firs Contact with the turians.

How the world had changed. Evolved to be better from then. The everyday lives of the humans of years 2100. Such tapes resided in the museums or in boxes stashed away to be forgotten.

Could humanity truly live that way ever again?

-…-_Will we be discovered by another race like the Protheans?_

"Be careful Armada! You could get hurt!" A woman exclaimed while holding the filmer in front of her. A young child, a girl, of platinum blond hair pounced around smiling as she did so. She had a white t-shirt and space-like uniform pants with a toy gun strapped onto her belt.

Her age was that of 7, it was year 2161.

The girl looked up at the camera and her blue eyes pierced through the lens as she giggled. "Daddy's coming home isn't he Mother?"

The mother smiled and chuckled replying, "Yes Armada. Daddy is coming home." The child started jumping slightly as her mother confirmed her father's arrival.

"You hear that Toren: Daddy's coming." She called. The video moved towards a smaller boy of the age of 5. His dirty blond hair and blue eyes resembled the eldest but his smile was broader than that of his sister's.

"I know!" He answered. His superhero figurine that he held in his hand hung loosely in his grip. His baggy green shirt and pants were complimentary of his robust stature even in his young age.

They were in a hangar awaiting the glorious Alliance ship to make port and the soldiers be reunited with their parents. The youngest of them was seated in a miniature space ship kids stroller. She was only 3 years old and her blond duvet started to grow into hair. The youngest and only one to have green eyes, Darwyn had her thumb in her mouth and strongly held a doll that had previously been Armada's.

As the ship pulled in and the Alliance soldiers came out of the hull the kids became more and more exited as they started to see their father walk out in the Alliance uniform.

The last minutes of the clip followed the reunion of the family and Armada showing off her toy proudly.

-…- _So young… I was so young… does that really make a difference?_

Cheering took over the volume limit of the camcorder as the newly enlisted Alliance recruits stood at attention in front of the massing crowd.

The initiation ceremony had just ended and the recruits walked down into the crowd to receive congratulations and affection. The blond soldier descended the staircase and walked towards her family while smiling.

Her sister ran towards her and jumped into her arms. She had a lighter blond than her eldest and more exaggerated curves.

"Hey Toren! No pressure now, but that's 3 out of 5 Shepards in the Alliance!" The oldest joked.

"Just you wait! I'll be in there when I'm 18." The brother replied.

"Armada, just stay safe out there all right!" the youngest recommended. "There is only so much that our parents and Andolus can withstand."

Armada smiled and embraced her father as Andolus, a turian family friend, replied. "Oh, I can bet that they can take in a lot, Darwyn."

"I bet they can!" Armada smiled as she embraced the old turian. "Your mother would have wanted to be here Armada. She'd be so proud of you." Her father, who was filming, stated.

Armada looked towards him and added with a slight grin. "I'm pretty sure she had the extranet on the MS. Salvadora."

The video cut once more.

-…- _She was so happy. Mother was so proud of you..._

"[…] Today, we honour the bravery and determination of the fighters on Elysium. N6 operative Toren John Shepard, you have earned this medal as well as the gratitude of the entire Alliance fleet. Conscript Darwyn Malory Shepard, you also retain the medal of honour to have stood by your brother in this daring feat. Without either of your aid, Elysium would have fallen. […]"

-…- _Strange how people quickly forget_.

" […] May we never forget the sacrifices they made. For the galaxy, for humanity. We will never forget the actions and daring battles waged here. The memories of this event reside in the courage and strength of one woman. Armada Jane Shepard survived what many could not. Exceled where many would have failed. She embodies the best of humanity. Akuze will never be forgotten."

-…- _Never be forgotten… what a lie._

She was the crown jewel of the Shepards, the pride and the Courage of humanity.

Armada Jane Shepard, the first human Spectre and saviour of the Citadel.

Many thought her siblings would momentarily up the system in the way their eldest did, but they couldn't be more wrong.

Previously successful, Toren had gotten caught in a horrible political situation with batarians and humans from which his superiors deliberately used him as a buffer zone, forcing him to take all blame. The Alliance had to refuse his application to take the N7 course, stripped him of his tittle and privileges, reviewed his service record and submitted him to psychiatric analysis. Eventually, he gave up trying to rebuild his military life and submitted an early release from the Systems Alliance. His departure of the Alliance made the news everywhere.

He took the only office available to him afterwards, the honorary tittle of a Citadel Security Presidium Guard, _a glorified bouncer_.

As for the youngest, I was considered one of the best scientific minds in the learner's branch but thanks to my belated apparition of biotic growth, was taken off the course and sent to biotic training. My biotics halted my medical education and when I reapplied, I was refused. _Darwyn M. Shepard no longer fit the pre-requisites._

But people overlooked our failures and stayed focused on the one-woman army: Armada.

Some often forget she was human. She had feelings, she had family. From the start I never stopped looking up to her, me and my brother alike. She was the most successful of us, and even before Eden Prime she motivated us to get over what happened. Toren stopped a gunfight by talking down a criminal in the Emporium, got promoted to the Zakera Wards and got his first partner in 2178. And I had found a learning center in the edge of the Tayseri ward for specialised biotic scientists shortly after being refused for a second time.

Everything was just fine, until…

-…-_ Until the events of 2183…_

A coffin was in the center of the room. Soldiers, civilians, aliens, politicians and more crowded it and much more were massing outside next to the massive screens.

An N7 blanket covered the metal surface of the coffin as it symbolised the passing of a fighter. A hero's final resting place as her body resided somewhere in the empty void of Space.

The speeches were ended but no one dared move. The death of their Spectre had killed everyone a little on the inside.

Dressed in black, Darwyn Shepard slowly stepped forward clutching tightly at the white roses in her hand. She had ignored the thorns attacking her palms for quite sometime. She posed the flowers onto the metal box that would have held the body of her dead sister.

_The Reapers are the real threat and they're sending me after geth._ Armada's voice echoed in her mind. _Sometimes you can't save everyone Dwyn. There will be a time where idealists will have to avenge those who soldiers cannot. In that way everyone can be saved._

She knew that Armada wouldn't want her death to be a burden but there were some things that the heart doesn't allow to let go.

She slowly rubbed the surface of the cold metal coffin as a tear fell from her eyes.

"Say hi to daddy for me." She sniffled and walked back to her place.

Etiquette asks that the coffins be bare as they are released but no soldier stopped the youngest sister to give the roses. It is humane to let one grieve and they all missed their hero.

Dwyn looked up from the floor and could recognize many faces.

Admiral Anderson, Toren and his asari partner Alleris Plaice, Andolus and his son Romulus, Century, a Quarian – that she remembered as Tali, Wrex and Garrus, Admiral Hackett, Doctor Chakwas, Liara T'Soni, a reporter… Emily Wong? And many more people that she didn't instantly recognize.

But the two that stood out the most for her were: Kaidan Alenko and Jeff Moreau, the last people to have ever seen Armada alive.

[…]

"It isn't your fault." She calmly comforted. The green-eyed pilot slightly turned his head towards the youngest. "She didn't die by your fault." Dwyn repeated.

"That's not true." He replied. "She made sure I got out and got spaced… it's my fault and I don't try to convince myself otherwise." His fists clenched his crutches strongly.

"You saved the pods. She saved you. She may have left us behind but she left something far stronger. By saving you, she gave us the chance to continue what she started."

"By saving me?" He asked, a little confused. Wondering how in the world the youngest go that that conclusion.

"What good comes out of a ship without a pilot?" She smirked warmly.

"A pilot… can be replaced." He was reluctant to say it but there was truth in his words. "**I** can be replaced."

Dwyn put her hand on his forearm and looked at him in the eyes. She felt his tension lift a little.

"She didn't seem to think so."

On that, she nodded and left before he could reply.

He was partly glad that the sister of the Commander would try to comfort him but the fact that she wasn't mad at him put his mind at ease. Absent minded, he shifted his weight on a crutch and noticed a piece of paper sticking out of his pocket. He shifted and took out the note, unfolded it.

He found it strange that he found _paper_ in his pocket but his curiosity was stronger than his reasoning.

_The enemies of the general may see the flag but will always fear the steed._

He felt the side of his lip rise slightly, unnoticeable to the others around him.

He never knew she was poetic.

-…-

**If this is how they treat their heroes perhaps our annihilation is preferable…**

**Armada… if only you were here… see the Council as the lechers they truly are.**


	2. Citadel News Net

Virtuous Bullet: Spaced

Citadel News Net

Calmly sitting in front of the seamless screen, the youngest of three's eyes were still inflated and red. She surfed through the audio recordings that she used to hopelessly listen to in hopes of good news. Good news… she should have known. Nothing _good_ ever comes out of a ship getting destroyed. Denial blocked the truth from her young eyes. The Captain _always_ went down with her ship…

The cursor went over the audio files and automatically played them in order.

**Audio 01.U45.2183**

"This is Citadel News Net, I'm Emily Wong. Still no reports are in about the disappearance of Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. The Alliance sent many search and rescue patrols in the terminus systems but there is only so much that they can do. Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of the crew."

**Audio 02.94V.2183**

"This is Citadel News Net, I'm Emily Wong. It has been 2 weeks since the Alliance went silent about the whereabouts of the first human Spectre. People are starting to wonder if the Commander is ever going to come back. Shepard fans claim that she might be on a secret mission from the Council, others say that she might have been killed in action. But there is still no word from either the Councilors or the Alliance. Many are presuming the worst for humanity's greatest heroes."

**Audio 03.102.2183N**

"This is Citadel News Net, I'm Emily Wong. At 19h00 citadel-time yesterday, the Alliance finally addressed the Normandy disappearance matter. Brian McCormick, Alliance representative, released this statement: _We are in the unknown when it comes to the location of the Commander herself but the Alliance have uncovered the Normandy's distress beacon just off of the planet Alchera._

The search and rescue patrols are in the process of recovering the survivors. It is unsure when they will have a full casualty report. We can only hope that the officers will return soon."

**Audio 04.21b.2183**

"This is Citadel News Net, I'm Emily Wong. Dire news has come out of the wreckage of the Normandy SR1. There have been over 15 traumatised survivors who have reported to doctors and 21 confirmed casualties, including the Normandy's Commander. There has been no other news on this report and no one seems to be saying more."

**Audio 05.88B.2183**

"This is Citadel News Net, I'm Emily Wong. Everything seems to be getting worse about the Normandy's destruction. The pilot of the Normandy – Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau- claims to have seen the Commander get pushed away from the escape pod by a blast and was unable to reach the pod. It would explain why the Alliance was not, and still is not, able to locate her body. The Flight Lieutenant has been submitted to psychological help even though he claims to have no need of it. The hopes of the return of Commander Shepard now seem very grim."

**Audio 06. N/a**

"This is Citadel News Net, I'm Emily Wong. Witnesses claim to have sighted the youngest of the Shepards, Assistant Doctor Darwyn Shepard, pay a visit to the facility hosting the Flight Lieutenant of the Normandy. No one knows exactly which words were spoken but Doctors say that neither of them walked out the same."

**Audio 07. N/a**

"This is Citadel News Net, I'm Emily Wong. There will be multiple funerals hosted on the Citadel in honour of the brave men and women who served on the SSV Normandy. It is a sad moment for humanity as it marks the final chapter in its first human spectre and her mighty invincible flagship The Normandy."

After the 7th audio clip Dwyn didn't have the courage to hear anymore of them. Could she be blamed? Not really.

She had gone quiet for some time after the funeral then did next to nothing in social activities apart from studying. She only resurfaced until her own sister's stories started to resurface… The Citadel was now actively looking for her. Anything more and there'd be flyers announcing her bounty for capture. It tends to happen when you pull of the stunts she did.

She should have known that the Citadel Council wouldn't take the new biotic dent in their marble wall outside the main presidium chambers too well. Now she's completely off of the radar with nothing but those damn audio clips.

_I can't believe it has come to this Mads… _she thought. She selected all of the clips and pressed the delete.

- Are you sure you wish to delete these files? This change will be permanent and there will be no chance for recovery. Do you still wish to delete these files? –

She never thought selecting the "ok" option would be so demanding. Anything about Armada Jane Shepard was priceless now… including the news reports of her death.

"The hell with it."

- Files Deleted –

Her omnitool started ringing. She looked down and sighed.

"Yeah?" She answered.

"The hell are you doing?" She chuckled. The voice of her elder brother was unmistakable over the tool. She always suspected him of rigging her omnitool to keep an eye on her considering her… rather daring activities of late.

"I'm deleting the audio files that make me cry helplessly. Why?"

"Dwyn… I know you. You're a file hoarder. You delete _nothing_… unless you're doing something stupid… Aw shit! Darwyn Malory Shepard: don't you dare."

"Goodbye brother. Wish me luck." She smiled and just before she hung up her brother managed to say: Shit!

She knew that running from the Council was one of the stupidest things she's ever done, but then again: She's always been one to surprise herself.

And besides, Her sister needs an armada. Might as well start with her.


	3. Standing in the No Man's Land

Virtuous Bullet: Spaced

Standing in the No Man's Land

"Damn it." He swore under his breath. His rubbed his brow in frustration and stared harshly into the translucent screen before him. In nothing more than a couple seconds Darwyn had disconnected all of her contactable mobiles, contacts and numbers. She even found her tracking number and killed that. All he could do was bear witness to his own sister's disappearance. Wasn't Armada's loss enough? He had to lose both his sisters? One to the mysterious ship lurking around that he refused to call geth and the other left to save the new family legacy.

And the _best_ part: he was the one to tell their mother.

She had been torn apart by Armada's death alone. Now she had to be told that her other daughter, the youngest of her children, ran off and was hiding from the Council for an ideal that many declare already dead: Reapers.

_Wow… 3 out of 5 Shepards down… and it's barely 2184._ He thought solemnly.

"Hey Lieutenant? You good?"

Toren turned towards his asari partner. That asari and himself had gone through their whole career together as partners, teamed against their will six years ago, but made the most arrests in history of their regiment. Citadel Security was really indebted to them.

"Aye, I'm good." He answered sarcastically. She frowned in a way that her facial expression would say _Toren… you're an ass of a liar and you should know better_.

"What?" He asked shrugging his shoulders.

"If you're going to lie about it why not just … I don't know! Lie more convincingly about it!"

"I don't have to and besides: If you knew I was going to lie, why did you ask?"

"I didn't know you were going to lie Toren." She replied, stubbornly returning to her monitor to continue filling reports. She mumbled something under her breath as she hit the keyboard letters a little harder than before.

His face bore no emotion but on the inside Toren was smirking. Alleris Plaice was his essential source of amusement in the workplace. He needed to unwind a lot recently and she could easily notice the change in him.

He was very different from his usual supercilious self… but, like any other person she had come to know for a long period of time, was quick to shut himself down for protection instead of letting her in as friends or as colleagues would. She sometimes wondered why nobody let her in… other asari never seemed to have this problem…Yet other asari didn't have their _azure_ covered either. She could live with the eternal self-protection of others if she could keep her pants where they were. That's how it's been for over 431 years after all.

"I'd thought you'd get the hang of human tells by now Alleris." He let out, slightly amused. "But it doesn't take a genius to see that someone isn't _doing alright_."

He turned his head slightly towards his partner and saw her ease the tension that was building in her shoulders; a sign of frustration leaving her asari body.

"So what's bothering you Lt?" she asked, tentative. He might, just _might_, give in and spill the beans. _Just might_.

"It's not something I can say out loud, Alleris."

She sighed silently. _Of course it isn't_. She thought.

"It never is." Toren could hear the tint of impatience in the reply she gave. He knew that she wanted them to have a closer partnership, or she hope it was professionally close anyways, and his isolation of his problems wasn't helping. Toren wasn't used to being open with anyone but his sisters… of which he won't be able to consult for either a very long time or forever altogether.

The beeper on Alleris' desk went off. She got up and gathered her things, swung her backpack on her shoulder and waved to Toren while walking towards the door.

"See you tomorrow Lt."

"Sure." He answered, absent.

Alleris was a bit concerned by the absent-minded reply of her partner… if this continued and he wouldn't open up… she'd be forced to report him to the directorate.

_That,_ she thought,_ I will avoid. At all costs._

She hated the directorate but… if this new pain has to do with his sisters…

No. She'd make him spill the beans before the directorate would find out.

She had to.

Toren was monitoring the backchannels of the extranet as far as research went. Once again: impuissance. All he was for the moment is an observer. Dammit. Why did C-Sec hire him for this shit?

_Extranet Surveillance_ was the **worst** assignment… not according to Bailey but… Bailey was Bailey and everything was for duty and the least paperwork possible. He smirked as he remembered his foolish introduction to Bailey not 2 years back-

New loads of research had started on "Lazarus".

Toren leaned forward and investigate the closest relating articles and same server searches. He found cellular revival, tissue build up, cloning… but then the word Lazarus showed up many times one subject after the other…

Lazarus… Lazarus? Who or what was this Lazarus?

He brought up his Omnitool and looked it up.

Among the old biblical implications and old earthen literature roots the predominant meaning shone out clearly: concerned with the resurrection of the dead.

He hesitated. All the subjects researched had to do with revival. The extranet source in question was one that wasn't identified or part of a shady network, like the networks coming from Omega or Illium to name a few. It probably only had a few connections to the Citadel and most searches blipped on and off the dark web but it was still a trail. He then remembered his past mistakes…

Pursuing a lead without ones partner.

Alleris would kill him but work would get his mind off his family drama… No. He'd wait for the next time Alleris is in the Office. Then he'd have ammunition to say that he was a good _little young human_ and she'd have nothing to say to that!

He smiled wholeheartedly. It was good Alleris was mostly unsustainable, she was a great distraction and there was no chance there'd be something between them: she finds all humans repulsive.

Bonus.


	4. Competence Value

Virtuous Bullet: Collected

Competence Value

_Armada girl… what did you get yourself revived into?_ She thought, as she shot down dozens of vorcha, one of which had said, "We break fans" not 5 minutes ago. She hated vorcha… personally and professionally. One: they regenerate health freakishly fast. Two: they're the enemy cannon fodder. Three: she's jealous that they can speak that way and not have a sore throat… ever.

_I'll have to talk to Miranda about that upgrade…_ She thought smiling as her sniper rifle took down yet another of the vermin.

It had taken a while but by half way through the mission Armada had gotten the hang of her new skills. She missed the adrenaline rush she got from her sniper rifle but… her skill set had changed.

She used to be an Infiltrator.

Now she's an engineer.

What the balls? What happened there?

She talked to Miranda about it but all she got from her _XO_ was that Project Lazarus surfaced feelings she didn't know she had. Therefore she _always_ wanted to be an engineer… Ya no.

She missed her sniper rifle.

And Wrex.

And Vakarian.

She took it upon herself to search for those three while she fought the collectors.

The organics she could probably easily find but her sniper rifle… was special.

An M-97 Viper Sniper Rifle, extended barrel scope, heat signal reducer, extra rounds, black market sound cloaking devices… and that cheap permanent blue spray paint that faded to a bluish grey tint in a week.

She liked to call her: Kix.

She sighed to the thought that it might be auctioned off somewhere or in a ditch… forgotten and lost. That rifle was worth more to her than what many would ever think.

Some people have pets. Others have good luck charms. Some even had children.

Her trophy and most favourite possession: Kix. At least that Viper was good for her job and appearance in public places, her new weapons just didn't have the same… feel. They felt heavy, clunky and unflattering.

"Hurry Shepard we need to turn on the fans." Miranda had mentioned rather insistently from behind her.

Armada rolled her eyes. _No! Really? I have to turn on the – Miranda: you're a prodigy!_

"There's one. Now all we have to do is turn on the other." Her genetically altered companion added.

Shepard gave her a glance and arched an eyebrow.

Miranda caught the _I know how to do my job_ vibe. Their eye contact was then broken. Jacob, who was already fighting, had started to say, "Gravity's a _mean_ mother- huh!"

Armada surprised herself by thinking: _God… I need a drink. _

"After we recruit Mordin and Archangel, we're headed off to the Citadel!" she ordered. She knew there was alcohol on Omega but she'd rather drink in peace at the Citadel than inspect every drop of alcohol served on Omega, _the land of those who shall not fornicate with Aria._

But if Patriarch handed her a drink though: she'd toast him and chug it.

Until then the damn vorcha can die and she can rage kill every son of a bitch while thinking about the fate of her rifle.

She smirked. She hadn't changed at all. Lazarus win.

-Meanwhile, somewhere else in the Galaxy of the Milky in the Way-

"We understand her ties to Commander Shepard, Councilor Anderson, but her acts were direct threats towards the Council."

The asari councilor had the same irritating voice that she had when she last heard it in 2183. Darwyn had always thought that the Salarian councilor was always the one to appeal to when humanity requested aid. Asari were far too… demanding in the fine print and Turians with just the joined history makes it hard to reason with. Making the Salarians the better choice in term of negotiation, but the negotiator has to be sharp… those damn salarians are sneaky and quick. There's a reason why they're still around with their unimposing stature and short life span: they have an edge in the political and scientific worlds.

"Speaking of which Councilor, I find it strange that she be allowed freely and unshackled in your office." The turian councilor noted.

"With all due respect Councilor, Darwyn Shepard holds no threat towards my person. I wasn't even firmly into office when she committed her acts in the Chamber, over 2 years ago."

"Without significant punishment." The Salarian added. "Darwyn Shepard has beeneluding the law and her punishment for threats against the Council, public violence, resisted arrest, vandal and harm to a C-sec officer."

Dwyn said nothing. She knew coming back to the Citadel would attract unwanted attention, but she never knew the triumvirate bastards themselves would find her so quickly… someone leaked her presence… it had to be a mole.

"Councilor Anderson, you know the regulations for prosecuting someone who has gone to extreme means to threaten the Council."

"Yes, councillors."

"Then you must also know that Darwyn Shepard, cannot use her bloodline to justify her actions against us."

"Yes… Councillors."

"Then you must understand why we must decline your request to postpone the hearing. It must continue on its present course. In the meantime, Darwyn will reside in the local detention center as she was for the past weeks."

_Goddammit._ Anderson thought. Armada wouldn't let this happen. Her sister going to jail for a long time for defending her honour with the power that she wielded in her brain. By denting that wall just outside of the Citadel Tower with her mastered biotics may not have been a good plan of action for Dwyn back in 2183 but what was done was done… Now she had to fess up to her mistakes and Anderson hated it.

- Omega -

"With all due respect Aria, I don't care much for Omega." Armada answered plainly shrugging her shoulders.

"That's what I like to hear. I'd hate to have investigators coming in and wipe your smeared DNA off my walls."

"I'm pretty sure I'd be able to handle you Aria."

She crackled once and added in disbelief. "You and what army? Just the three of you? I single handily took over this station, I didn't just bat my eyelashes and killed everyone in their sleep."

"You really want to compare resumes Aria?" Armada crossed her arms and lay back on the couch. "We could be here for a long time."

"More than a human lifetime." She smirked and glanced in another direction before asking. "Now is there anything else or do you just like wasting my time?"

"Archangel."

"You sure?"

Armada raised an eyebrow. "What else would I want to know?"

"Normally the first thing one does when they come back to life is find family."

Armada had already tried to reach her family. She tried her brother first, then her sister and both turian friends of the family but none she could reach. Out of desperation she tried to reach her mother, but even that contact had no results.

Toren Shepard was being investigated by C-Sec for suspected information withholding on an active case. She couldn't find anything on her sister Darwyn… that had bothered her but nowhere she went could provide her with adequate locations. Romulus Rotal never had an answering machine and she always said that she'd forever annoy him with that. Andorick Rotal, Romulus' father, was an agent of the Shadow Broker… the undercover/silent type and Century had the same profession. Hannah Shepard was serving on a dreadnought and was very busy, she left a message.

"I tried."

"But was unsuccessful." Aria looked straight at her, not hiding her haughtiness. "I'd recommend that you start looking at the Citadel. She shouldn't be hard to find." She looked back straight into the spot in front of her as she dismissed the Commander.

Shepard got up from her seat and thanked her quickly before rushing over to the Normandy. By deduction she knew Aria spoke of Dwyn. Where was that rebel?

- Serpent Nebula -

"Hello, My name is Avina and welcome to the Citadel presidium. You are using the portable version of the main consoles. For more specific inquiries please refer to the larger consoles or any of the Citadel representatives."

"Please stop touching that… please." The guard asked, as it was Darwyn's fourth time introducing herself to the only Avina application she was allowed to have on her Omni-tool.

Darwyn sighed. That guard was no fun.

She turned to look at him.

He was human, middle 20's, brown hair, grey eyes, tall enough but she could easily tower over him with a good pair of heels. He held his rifle tightly. His instructors at C-Sec probably told him that she was a crazy biotic and could go haywire anytime. She knew that with what she was charged with, one guard wasn't all they'd have on her.

She looked up on the presidium walkways and sure enough: at least 5 C-Sec guards were doing small rounds keeping their focus on her person. To her left, among the buildings and cafes, she could spot 2 snipers with their eyes buried in the scope.

She smirked and waved at one of them.

She could only imagine what they were thinking.

She paced around in Anderson's new office trying to find ways to entertain herself before the shuttle to the detention center would show up. She still had a couple hours before they'd take her away for days and then her trial would call her guilty and then BOOM detention for at least 10 years. The worst part: it's after her release that she could act on the information she received.

But it didn't matter. For as long as she _had_ that information, those 10 years won't matter. He isn't going anywhere. She had him in a tight little knot and he had to surface to breathe eventually, that's when C-Sec would move in. Or, he chokes for 10 years and doesn't budge from his location and she hunts him down on her own.

Her plan was fool proof. She had him at a checkmate.


	5. Child No Longer

a/n: if there are any grammar mistakes, please notify! Thank you!

Virtuous Bullet: Collected

Child No Longer

The Citadel.

It hasn't changed, hasn't seen much _earthshattering_ events. The last big thing that happened would be Sovereign and I'm not surprised they turned "Reaper ship" to "Geth construction"… Geth… of all things. So obvious and mundane, the Council blame the first bringer of destruction to be of Geth technology.

Fear… this fear would render the Galaxy unprepared for what's to come. The Reapers wiped out the Protheans and everyone before them. With this leadership… they'll wipe out Human, Krogan, Turian, Asari, Salarian… all of the races would be destroyed and no one will stop the cycle.

All the people I cared about… that I still care for.

Dead.

Like I was not much more than a month ago.

Not going to happen.

**I won't let it happen.**

"Commander?" Miranda asked, taking Armada out of her inner battle plan.

Shepard nodded and moved on. She passed right in front of the Sargent Marine talking about Isaac Newton, and the check in desk with a complaining turian saying that all humans were racists.

She was going to go right through check-in but the turian motioned her to stay still.

His monitor blurted out negative sounds and the C-Sec officer reached for his communicator.

"There seems to be a problem... the system seems to think you're ah… dead."

"Yes. That would be a problem." She waited a couple seconds to see what the turian would reply, but then she remembered she was in a hurry. "Where can I get it fixed?"

"I'll open the door. You can talk to Captain Bailey."

"Thanks."

She stopped in her steps.

The Citadel may not have changed but there were far more human faces around.

- Presidium -

"The shuttle will arrive momentarily, Miss Shepard." The Guard announced.

Dwyn rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that. My name's Darwyn, start using it."

The guard was taken aback by her reaction. Did she react to him saying her name? What was wrong with calling her Miss Shepard?

- Wards -

"Where can I get a cab?" Armada asked Bailey.

"You want to get to the presidium? Meet with the Council?"

"Yea. A Friend told me to go there and I intend on saying a couple things…" She restrained her growl. The Council did nothing to recover her body, nor did they sustain the Reaper threat… but that anger should be vented at the appropriate party.

"Oh. I see. You want to talk to them about your sister. Shame that."

"Wait… what?"

- Presidium -

"Why did you do what you did, _Darwyn_?" The guard asked, forcing himself to not be formal as he usually was.

"What's your name officer?" She turned towards him, leaning against Anderson's desk. Anderson himself was out, dealing with his elcor and volus neighbours.

"That's irrelevant miss." He replied, boasting his chest subconsciously.

"So is my motive to my commitment." She looked more closely to his nametag.

"M. Fang."

He understood.

The answer was the obvious one.

- Wards -

"Yeah. Your sister used her biotics to make a dent so big in the Citadel Tower we still can't replace the metal she destroyed. The Keepers still try to smooth it out but I guess remodelling is one of the functions they can't do too well."

"… You said the trial is when?" Armada replied, hands gripped tightly to the desk and her gaze straight down. Anger fuming of her ears it seemed.

"Hang on. Let me check… she's going to be trialed in 3 days, but is getting on a shuttle to the holding cells today... in about 2 hours. If you hurry you might catch her."

"Thanks Bailey."

"Actually, here." He turned and whistled to one of the officers. A salarian answered the call and showed up behind the Commander. "Officer Grithix will drive you in a C-Sec cab. The sirens will be on so you'll skip all the damn lights. Meanwhile we'll try to stall the transfer with the onsite guards."

"I'll pay you back one day, Captain." Shepard said as they jogged to the cab.

"Consider it repayment for saving our sorry Asses!" He answered.

Armada smiled and before getting in the cab, turned to him and said, "Deal."

- Presidium -

"What is it Fang? They're calling me early?" Dwyn asked absent-minded as she saw the guard reach up to his earpiece, face announcing a change of plans.

"… Yes sir. The council won't want to hear this." He turned his back towards Darwyn as he continued to nod.

_Taking orders then…_ she understood.

At that moment the Council was calling for a meeting and Anderson had gotten back.

What was going on?

…..

"This meeting would be more productive if Udina were to join us."

Darwyn, arms and legs crossed leaning against the wall where the Councilors couldn't easily see, rolled her eyes. Of course they wanted to have that boot licker in the room he just drank their words like a teacher's pet.

"My advisor is not available. As Councilor I represent the voice of humanity and the Alliance. We've received word that Commander Shepard, the saviour of the Citadel, is alive."

"What?" Dwyn asked getting up straight. Officer Fang followed her every move with attention. Like a cat stalking a crazed mouse waving a lightsaber in the local Jawa bar.

"She just checked in with C-Sec in the wards. She should be here at any-"

The door to his office opened and the blazing devil herself walked in. Her N7 armour in a red/pink tint and a full coverage visor from ear to ear. She was armed to the teeth, as usual, and she walked with such authority, as usual.

Her Squad however… A scarred salarian and a woman in a very tight spacesuit with an emblem of… no. It can't be.

"Oh Commander! We were just talking about you!" Anderson greeted as Armada shook his hand, smiling.

"It's been a long time Anderson." She nodded and shook his hand. Instead of turning towards the Council and formally announcing her presence, she completely ignored them and turned to her younger sister.

"Now, Darwyn…" She walked over to her sister and with a smile took her extended hand and brought her in to a big hug with one arm around her sister's shoulder.

"I've missed you." The youngest whispered.

"Yea well…" They got out of the brief hug as she continued. "It's only been a couple weeks for me."

"You just had to leave didn't you." She smirked.

"Bah! How can I say I was a true _spectre_ if I hadn't died before hand!" She smiled.

Darwyn chuckled; they both knew Armada was going to bust her out if the Council imprisoned the youngest Shepard. Only then would they cry in a peaceful family atmosphere and only then would Dwyn spill the beans of what really happened during the two years Armada had been gone for… but not all.

Anderson smiled seeing the sisters get reacquainted, but the councillors didn't share the same … heart.

"We've heard many rumours surrounding your unexpected return… some of them are unsettling.

"We've called this meeting so that you could explain your actions Shepard. We owe you that much."

Armada heard Dwyn murmur, "and more." She replied with a smirk.

"… After all you saved our lives in the battle against Saren and his geth."

Armada kept a straight face and corrected the asari councilor. "Led by the _Reaper_ Sovereign."

"Ah yes: Reapers." The turian councilor air-quoted. Dwyn was surprised Armada didn't lose her face right there and then. "The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. We have dismissed that claim."

Dwyn wanted to call him off right there but Armada caught her urge and squeezed her hand discreetly, secretly telling her… politely, to shut the hell up.

Anderson turned towards the Shepards.

"Shepard, no one else encountered the hologram on Ilos that told you the truth about the Reapers. Only you and your crew ever spoke to Sovereign. I believe you, but without evidence from another source, the others think Saren was behind the geth attacks."

"Garrus Vakarian and Urdnot Wrex aren't viable sources, is that it? Screw me… Considering this Council's past actions to support me I'm pretty sure my unlucky streak of shit situations continues even after my…" she cut herself off with a huge sigh of anger. "Correct me if I'm wrong. Vigil on Ilos isn't functional anymore or no one can find it, the pieces of Sovereign on the Citadel weren't enough to indoctrinate someone so everyone still thinks it's the geth, and now my return will make you all question my sanity."

Dwyn wanted to protest but the councillors' silence proved that everything she had said was what they all thought. She shot angry gazes of disbelief towards each and every one of them – all but Anderson.

"Your theory about the Reapers just proves how fragile your mentality is. You're being manipulated – by Cerberus and, before them, by Saren."

"Excuse me." She shot.

Dwyn never saw anyone so revolted than her sister at that moment.

"I saved your sorry asses with a heavy loss of human lives. **Human** lives! And now after all I've done to make sure Saren paid for his kills and the sacrifices of my crew **you** question **my** sanity?"

"We are in a difficult situation Shepard. You are working for Cerberus – an avowed enemy of the Council. This is treason, a capital offense." The asari councilor accused.

"That is too far. Shepard is a hero. I'm on this council, too, and I won't let this whitewash continue." Anderson arose in Armada's defense.

"Maybe there is a compromise. Not a public acknowledgment, given your ties, but something to show peripheral support."

"Shepard if you keep a low profile and keep your operations to the Terminus Systems, the Council is willing to reinstate you as a Spectre." The Turian councilor added in military stance.

Armada sighed. "Does that mean I go back to filling reports?" She shook her head. "No. I'll be doing a lot of damage to Cerberus from the inside, getting those kidnapped colonists back and killing a shit ton of mercenaries. By making me a Spectre the council will have a hand in _my _impacts." She cleared her throat. "If you want a part in Cerberus' sabotage, there are two things that the Council can do for me."

The councillors shared a look to each other, debating with their gazes.

Dwyn loved this kind of politics… _I save you, now you owe me _politics.

"Then let us hear them Shepard." The salarian councilor answered.

"One: you can stop slanting all my Reaper claims. I get it: you think it's nuts, but I'm the one in the trenches. I died by something unexplainable and I don't want the people kept in the mentality that there are _only_ geth roaming the Galaxy."

The turian councilor tensed up, obviously disapproving of her constant Reaper push, but Armada was right: there was something else out there and warning the people of that could be done.

"Two: You give me my sister."

"That cannot be done Commander." The Asari councilor protested.

"I know what she did. It's in direct relation to me and my death."

"She had committed a crime against this Council and that is intolerable!" The salarian councillor replied.

"Like you said: No public acknowledgement and no one knows where she is. The files say she went to prison but in reality she serves her time on the Normandy."

"We understand that you care for your sister Commander, but she will have no use on the Normandy military wise. Nor do we want to give Cerberus any more workers than they already have at their disposal." The Council seemed to have completely overlooked Miranda's presence in the room. Armada found that extremely ironic.

"That's where you're wrong Councilor." Armada crossed her arms and leaned back. "Darwyn Malory Shepard is a specialized biotic scientist with pristine degrees in degenerative bone diseases. I just happen to have one of the most rare cases on board. My Pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, suffers from a genetic degenerative bone thinning disease, which is right into my sister's field. I could also use her as moral support and …" she looked at her sister. " it would calm my mind to know that my dear young sister isn't doing something stupid in jail to further her sentence."

"We… will have to debate on this." The councillors all nodded.

"Come back in a couple days, Shepard. We'll have your answer by then." Anderson added.

Before Shepard would be kicked out of the office to leave the politicians to their bickering Anderson added. "Next time you visit, don't try to usurp the whole political structure and maybe we can talk some more."

"Same here." Dwyn added.

Armada smiled and then exited the room to return to Omega.

She had a vigilante to save and a loyalist to calm to fuck down.


	6. Hanker

a/n: if there are any grammar mistakes, please notify! Thank you!

P.S: This is a long-ish chapter: 3194 words

Virtuous Bullet: Collected

Hanker

"What are you doing?"

"Shhh!" He hissed. Alleris lifted an eyebrow. There she was, walking about looking for her partner for non-essential information, just to find…

"Why are you hacking the security cameras in Councillor Anderson's office?" He was stuffed under C-Sec's Head Investigator's desk, Omni-tool activated and lit-up waving it around and swearing as it beeped low irritating grumbles.

"Because…. _Ow!_ Because Rheault got some information about… _son of a brickwall!_ About the circulating rumours concerning my sisters…"

"And you're going to trust that purebl-" Toren stopped what he was doing and shifted his gaze down towards his partner. She felt his gaze and knew he'd disapprove of the word she was going to use.

"Oh come on!" she put her hands on her hips. "She's not even around!"

"Doesn't matter Plaice." He added punitively as he returned to his attempts. "And for the record: Yes. I do trust the Intel she gives me." He swore again. "She is, after all, the one who got me off the streets and back in armed services."

Alleris huffed. _"Oh I can't imagine why…"_ She commented to herself. Toren was too busy failing at his hacking to even notice Alleris had said anything.

She sighed and crossed her arms as she leaned on the wall. She never understood the _earthclan_… Even after being forced to have Toren _fucking_ Shepard as a partner she was still confused and mixed up with questions about the human race that she still didn't understand after 6 years.

The part that infuriated her the most was that she still didn't know anything about his past apart from the bits that she read from his file. Speaking of which: most of it was inked out leaving his generic origins and detailed detentions from class dating from high school to College. Every bit of military experience was blacked out of his resume.

At first glance, at the time of his application review, his resume didn't look like much at all. If she hadn't seen him at the firing range or out on field after his acceptance into the system or if she didn't know how to recognize information withdrawal from files, she wouldn't have seen more than a vagrant _civy_ trying to get by as a security officer.

And that _civy_ had a chance at being hired because the one of the 3rd highest-ranking officers had _googoo_ eyes for him. But Goddess be damned: C-Sec hired him. By _Rheault_ no less… And that is why she wanted to review his file a second time.

That's when the imperfections and inconsistencies started to surface. Sentences were cut, medals were awarded yet Toren wore more than he claimed to have earned on his resume, yet every single system doesn't catch on to his "theft". He could shoot, he could handle stressful situations, he could diplomatically reason with just about anyone and is probably one of the few soldiers, if that's what he was, that could challenge the high ranking officers and come out needing a tiebreaker. Alleris also noticed that Toren knows a large amount of very shady people… one being Century. Century was a turian woman who was filed as a potential cover agent for an information broker. She had been in the Shepard family picture for some time but no one could pinpoint exactly who or what she did…

She sighed once again, keeping her arms crossed. "So, indulge me with your rumours."

"Armada's alive."

"What?" She asked, her arms going to her hips. "Toren are you daft? We went to her _funeral_."

"I know but… not year ago, barely, the word _Lazarus_ was extremely popular on the 'net as well as other shit… remember? We did an inquiry on it."

"Yes and _Rheault_ said she'd do an occasional follow up… which the supervisors never do anyway-"

"Where do you think my information comes from Alleris?" He asked raising his eyebrow.

"That's a first…" she sighed, returning to her typical slouch against the wall casually observing Toren's fail at reparation.

"Finally! I'm almost… _damn!_" He grumbled as the tool emitted a series of low sounds.

Alleris looked down at the human. She could barely see his dirty blond hair from where she was. His back was on the floor, one leg bent at the knee and a deep frown on his brow. It was easy to see that, thanks to his bulging muscles, he was no engineer. He was a soldier, through and through. But Alleris was surprised of one thing: he found a monitor with wires for him to rearrange.

She chuckled. He'd have a chance with the wires… no matter how minimal it was.

"You know… it just occurred to me…" He dropped his arms and looked up at Alleris. "I know the Investigator's password."

Alleris laughed, rearing her head backwards as he sighed. "Now how am I supposed to rewire this hunk of garbage?" He swore.

"Move over."

He managed to wiggle out from under the desk without jeopardizing the already tangled mess of wires and switches. As soon as he was out, Alleris took his place.

"Sometimes Toren… I really wonder."

"That's part of my charm, Plaice." He shrugged as he dusted off his uniform.

"Would you try to diffuse a bomb?" She looked at him. "Knowing that technology is not your forte?"

Toren smirked and crossed his arms. "Now, now. I don't deal in what ifs."

"It's not a _what if_ it's a _would you_." She corrected as her Omni tool made a series of higher pitch sounds.

"In human culture those are one and the same."

"Somehow I sincerely doubt that." She commented lowly. Before he could reply, she scanned the wires anew and the sounds it proceeded to make confirmed her success. "There we are. They're not exactly where they were before but…" she got out of the hole. "It'll work."

Toren rolled up his sleeves and started typing the keypass into the monitor.

"How do you know the password?"

"My investigation skills." He replied as he hit _enter_ on the keyboard. He was granted full access. "And we're in."

"Correction, _you_ are in. I'm an innocent bystander."

"Who also fixed the wires." Toren smirked as he started to browse the live camera files.

"Where's your proof?"

Toren just starred at her. He knew that she loved to play around protocol… she was one of the rare officers that had no problem to and never got caught doing so. He however… never got away with anything.

"Curse your logic." He replied. He could have said anything else but frankly, he was too lazy to.

"Comes with being half volus."

Toren nodded. She always jumped at the occasion to mention her father; she had great pride in it. All asari were like that… well: apart from Rheault.

He found the file he wanted. "Let's see what we can find…"

The projection played back the events of the day. He could see Darwyn pacing around in the office with a C-Sec officer whose eyes never lost its target. She brought up the portable Avina many times out of boredom, tried to do an origami with her fingers, bit her nails…

_Darwyn…_ He sighed.

She hopped around the office a couple times signing gleefully, and tried to make the officer flinch, and failed. The video feed started to change when the C-Sec agent raised a finger to his ear.

Toren leaned a bit forward in the chair as the minutes went by. Alleris had taken a couple steps forward herself.

The councillor had entered a couple minutes later, the council called the room soon after. As soon as the projections showed up, Darwyn made her way to their blindspot. Like a predator hiding in the shadows behind bars.

Alleris started to hear footsteps in the hallway. "Toren… someone's coming."

"Then stall him." He retorted. He knew that whoever was going to show up in the vid was going to put his mind, either, at ease or on edge.

He watched the clip attentively… saw the door open in the feed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Pallin accused.

Toren didn't move a muscle. His immobility hadn't come from his boss' entrance, but from the armoured ghost clearly defined in the feed.

"Goddess…"

/-/

For the sake of the mission approach she was going to take, Shepard had covered the N7 emblem on her chest plate, toned down the bulkiness of her armour, changed the colour and wore the basic marine's helmet that hid her hair, most of her face and had a long lens across the eyes to block out all light flashes. Basically blocking all recognisable features. There was no way the clerk would think she was just any mercenary and that's exactly what she was going for.

This approach left her a lot of wiggle room to be whoever she wanted to be. She always wanted to put herself up as an information broker. In response to her special status she was sent to another recruiter, not to the batarian bastard who called her a _dancer_.

"Your name?" The salarian Eclipse clerk asked. The yellow armour and sun painted with black stripes of the Eclipse mercenaries had always annoyed the heck out of Shepard. Every time they came around rockets soon followed.

Before Shepard could answer Miranda cut in… "This is ridiculous Commander… we could have gotten in as freelancers instead." Armada shot a mean look at her XO.

"Military?" The armoured salarian asked.

No. Shepard wanted an edge in the fight for Archangel… one that she couldn't afford to let Miranda ruin.

"No. I'm not in the military. If I were, would I walk around with a woman who wears _that _for armour." She pointed out. "Would I be trading information for the _Eclipse_ on behalf of some… interested parties instead of… gee I don't know: fighting whatever the Alliance is fighting now. Would the military let me fight with _salarian_ party members?"

"Alright, alright. You've made your point." He started typing. "Your name?" He repeated.

"Commander Jane." She replied. As the salarian recruiter looked up a little bit incredulous she added, "Last name _Jane_."

"How original." He sighed, typing it in. "How did you hear about Archangel?"

"You're kidding me right?" she crossed her arms. "I work for an _information broker_. Haven't you been listening?"

"Calm down miss, it needs to go on the report."

Armada rubbed the bridge of her nose and mumbled, "I knew I should have taken the Century situation."

"Pardon?" He asked surprised.

"Never mind. What's the next question on the redundant quiz?" She sighed.

"Did you say _Century situation_?" He seemed very intent on clarifying what she had said. Shepard tried not to grin; she knew she hit a nerve.

"5 years in." She held his stare as the salarian shifted nervously.

"Right this way Commander." He pressed a couple buttons and the back door slid open. "I suspect you know how to get to Archangel's base? She was posted there a week ago."

"I know." She said before she walked into the back door. As soon as they were out of earshot Shepard prepared to face the question bombs from her party.

To her great delight, there were none. She grinned.

They hailed the first available cab.

"What you doin' in this sector? You don't look like Eclipse." The human driver accused.

"All you need to know buddy, is that I'm a very important dignitary and you are biting in my time."

"Where's your-"

"Shut up and bring her to Archangel's base." A turian ordered. "She's here on business."

"Yes sir." The young merc replied before revving up the engine and pulled into the Eclipse tunnel network.

/-A couple minutes in-/

"Commander… about your sister…" The Eclipse taxi driver raised his eyebrow at the mention of Shepard's rank.

"Avert your eyes to the road pal." Armada directed.

"_Commander_ huh?" He asked.

"My mother wasn't very original." She sighed. "Keep your eyes on the road dammit!" The merc was startled by the severity of her voice and immediately focused on his driving.

Not taking any chances Armada signalled Mordin to isolate the compartment from all sound.

The Commander and her XO had their backs straight, legs crossed, chin high, shoulders back and one hand rested on the chair next to their pistols, their positions were almost mirrored. The only condition was the presence.

It wasn't physical nor could be forged into DNA strands. It could only be made after years of leadership, loss, respect and self-sacrifice. Shepard gave her XO some credit, Miranda had an outrageously high experience in leadership and loyalty but she lacked reputation. She may have one in Cerberus but it's a private organisation, to say the least. Miranda couldn't take credit for her accomplishments publically like she could.

_And then there's that whole thing with her tailored genetics._ She thought.

"What about." The Commander replied.

"Cerberus has files that you can consult about her actions back in 2184."

She wasn't finished but Armada didn't feel like hearing yet another report.

"I know, Ms. Lawson." She looked at her XO. "I'd rather ask her myself."

"You do realise that there is a chance the Council won't release her in your custody."

"Only a moron would ignore the other possibilities."

"Yet… you have great confidence that the Council will grant you your demands."

"I haven't played all my cards, Lawson."

Miranda shook her head. "What could you possibly use against the Council? You're working for Cerberus-"

"Don't start with that Lawson. You know very well what I think about Cerberus. My _let's sabotage Cerberus_ idea that I made the Council believe was legitimate was tempting to say the least.

"We brought you back Commander, can't you give us a chance?"

Armada chuckled shaking her head in disbelief. _What did the Illusive Man do to make you so loyal?_ She thought.

"My resurrection spared Cerberus of my urges to internally sabotage it. Don't push your luck." She glared.

Miranda felt like saying _they were all mistakes_ but something told her that the Commander wouldn't have it, not in a thousand years.

The timing couldn't have been better when the driver tapped the screen a couple times, announcing their arrival.

"Finally." Armada growled.

As the door slid open Armada quickly got up and hopped out of the shuttle.

"So! You three are the backup we asked for?" An asari walked up to them followed by her entourage of yellow armoured goons. She had a light blue skin with a purple scalp and white face marks. "I can't say I'm impressed."

"That is not the purpose of our arrival."

"Wow… we've got a classy one here boys!" She chuckled as her entourage laughed with her. "We didn't ask for wimps to back up our lines." Armada didn't have time for this… for Miranda's attempt at buttering up Cerberus and now…

"Funny. Cause I'm looking at a whole bunch of 'em."

The asari frowned as her fun had been kicked out of her. "Insulting an Eclipse Commando in her territory won't bode well for you." She threatened.

"I fought worse."

"Oh yeah? Let's see it then: you and me. Right here."

"Are you sure you can fight without your entourage?" Armada taunted.

She laughed. "I could crush you with my biotics without a second thought."

"You would be dead before you'd glow."

"So cocky… and how would you do that?" She shrugged her shoulders and pouted innocently. "You'd shoot me?"

"No." Armada smirked and pointed upward. "Those would."

The asari looked up in disbelief. The turrets Eclipse had deployed were all pointed towards her. She had a minimum of 7 laser dots solidly aiming at her chest.

"You hacked our system!" She turned towards the mercenaries behind her. "Who left a hacker in our system!?" She turned towards Shepard to see her with her gun raised, smirking satisfactorily at the stunned asari.

"I did."

The asari grumbled. Shepard looked up and saw exactly whom she came for.

The turian woman wore not the Eclipse armour; she'd die before she did that. She wore her family's crest on her shoulder guard, her medium armour was black with red weaved into the scratches and damaged parts. She bore a Mnemonic visor but had no gun.

She never needed one.

"Hello Century."

The turian nodded and smiled. It had been 2 years and a half since she'd seen that turian. The sneakiest mobile cover for Andorick, the Shadow Broker agent. C-Sec never could lock her up, she could never be caught, and Andorick could never be nailed and trialed, because his company front was run by Century.

"Likewise Spacer." She answered.

Century walked towards Shepard as another Eclipse Commando, one of the higher ranking ones, showed up. "Stand down Thrigg." She ordered. "Or I will make you."

Shepard could see tension bubble into the asari that had challenged her moments before. Thrigg swore harshly but eventually gave in to her orders. She grunted and left.

Shepard smiled as she shook hands with Century. "It has been too long my friend."

"I don't blame you." Century answered. She looked around for a couple seconds. "Come."

Century led Shepard and her party deeper into the base. The Eclipse base they were at was only a 15 minutes walk away from Archangel's base and you could faintly hear the echo of bullets and sniper shots. The buildings were white, mostly; there were a lot of crates, mercenaries slouched against the walls, some cleaning weaponry others itching for a chance to fight Archangel.

After they entered a door where 2 guards wore similar armour to Century, Shepard figured that whatever they said was now very well protected.

"There were rumours of your return you know." Century dropped. She turned around and sat comfortably into her very cushiony desk chair. Shepard sat into the opposing sofa leaning forward, her elbows on her knees.

Mordin and Miranda stayed standing. Century shot glances at the both of them. "It's an impressive feat revival… too bad it was Cerberus." She looked back towards Shepard. "Considering…"

"I know. Ironic aint it?"

Century chuckled. Her tribal face marks seemed to… rumble when she did. "Beyond ironic." She leaned forwards. "It's unimaginable."

Armada grunted in approval.

"So!" she leaned back, her arms following the edges of her seat. "A part from saying hello to your favourite turian, what else do you need to scratch off your new bucket list?"

"I need to pull in some favours."

"As do we all. Name 'em."

"I want something that will get me on Aria's good graces." Century was momentarily shocked. "I know it's a lot to ask for, but it's essential."

Century nodded. "I understand. I'll get on that as soon as I can… what else do you need?"

Shepard crossed her fingers and grinned.

"You want the vigilante don't you?" She snickered. "Of course you do." She got up from her seat and walked over to the wall compartment. "You'll need a ride." She grabbed the old fashioned keys and tossed them. "Don't bust the rims this time, you hear?"

Shepard moved the keys in her hands, closed her fingers and looked up. "I haven't driven one since 2183…"

Century smirked as she opened the garage door from her office. Shepard looked out the window, a smile formed on her lips.

"You know just as well as I: you'd drive my baby like shit anyway."

Shepard nodded.

"God I've missed the Mako."


	7. Turian on my Shoulder

A/N: if there are any grammar mistakes, please notify! Thank you! Sorry for the delay! Got lazy…

Virtuous Bullet: Collected  
Turian on my Shoulder

Another one down. How many more will show witlessly in front of his scope, he does not know.

He has gone through much in the past 3 years… but much of recent events have been for the worse. The Normandy crashing, the Commander dying, Darwyn going haywire on the Council, he failed his Spectre induction, flees to Omega, builds a team…

Another shot.

And like these freelancers his team died one by one…

His turian eye glanced towards a beam in the lower levels. A freelancer had thrown himself up against the beam, holding his elbows close to his body trying to make his body as small as he can muster. Holding his assault rifle against his chest, his breathing is fast, his pulse probably on the rise.

His team died one by one… a part from one.

The freelancer was alone… but he did not betray the others like the single survivor of his own did… He is young. Too young.

He pulled the trigger. He was too inexperienced to realise that Archangel had a clear shot of his head the whole time.

The freelancer's body fell flat to the ground. A clean shot through his helmet, a puddle of red blood pooled out. Archangel looked away. He found a new target. He always did.

Archangel… irony in his name.

They could have called him anything, but instead his name is the title of a religious winged creature in human cultures.

_All you need now boss, is a pair of wings!_

_What? Are you kidding Butler? He's already half bird!_

He reloaded his rifle. The dry clutch sound brings him back to the present… he needed something to root him down. To fight. What he needed was the Normandy.

_Heh. Who am I kidding?_ He thought. _I need Shepard._

/-/

"_The Eclipse base is to your left, you might want to avoid the gorge._"

Armada smiled as she took a sharp turn to the right. Miranda started swearing about how they should have upgraded her manoeuvrability and Mordin was holding on the _chicken bar _announcing incoming red spots on the radar.

"You'd think they'd make the roads safe enough."

"_This is Omega Mads. The roads aren't needed any longer. The skies however…_" Century replied on the comms as she was monitoring their movements. "_Frankly, watch out for falling debris._"

Armada chuckled as she steered through the tight trenches. Their destination was just on the other side.

An abandoned Eclipse outpost.

The mercenary band that had deserted the place was known to irritate Aria on a daily basis. In which case _deserted_ wouldn't be the right word, they got the hell off of Omega.

Her plan was simple. Show up, loot the place, find something of value for Aria, get her in her good graces. Simple. But Eclipse never just abandons a base…

The Mako hit a bump. Armada could hear Miranda swear under her breath.

"We're almost there." She announced, as the big red blob got closer on the radar.

She studied the schematics that the radar gave out. It was a small building at the surface but tunnels went on forever underground.

"Commander, what exactly are we looking for?" Miranda asked as the Mako came to a strong and abrupt stop. Armada stole a glance at her external cameras, she didn't notice at first that there were crates in the way before she came around for her _parking_ job. She chose to ignore them and exit the machine.

She grunted as her feet hit the ground, her sniper already in hand. She looked around quickly for hostiles before putting changing the thermal clip.

Behind her, Mordin and Miranda copied her example pointing their guns in different directions to cover more ground.

"To put it lightly Miranda, we're looking for dirt on the Eclipse, and if we're lucky, we'll find something that brings good Aria's fortune upon us." She started walking towards the base, sniper in hand.

"They would leave that kind of information behind? Unwise."

"Maybe they planned on coming back Mordin." Shepard commented as she reached the main door. She assigned her squad to take cover beside the giant doors, as she'd open them and rush to the first available cover.

She looked at Miranda then at Mordin as they both nodded Armada opened the door and rushed forwards, taking refuge behind an indestructible crate. Not a moment too soon, as the YMIR Mechs started opening fire.

"What a fabulous welcome party!" Armada sighed sarcastically. As she changed her trusty sniper for the grenade launcher. "Can't kill it with no bullets, toss a grenade." She mumbled.

From the corner of her eyes Armada caught some Eclipse soldiers pour out into the courtyard.

"Didn't you say it was abandoned _oh fearless leader_?" Miranda turned to ask.

"There was no way to tell just how much opposition we were about to face."

One more second and then Shepard leaped out wielding the blades of glory in her hands.

/-*language warning*-/

"You're going to open the door _dammit_."

"No I am not, Lieutenant." The guard answered sharply. He kept the strong gaze emitted by the Shepard before him. "Orders from the top were not to let you in," He crossed his arms. "and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Come on Spaence, be reasonable. We both know that if Lizzie would be in that cell you'd want in." Alleris tried to smooth things over but that was soon blown to bits.

"I'd want to sure, but I'd understand my orders and let it be."

"Bullshit!" Toren jabbed his finger in his direction. "You'd barge your way in guns blazing!"

"Who do you take me for Lieutenant? A madman! I know my orders! You are NOT getting in the holding cells! Not under my watch."

"We'll see." Toren turned around on his heels sharply and walked the other direction away from the cells grumbling and swearing anything that came to mind.

Alleris caught up to him. "Toren calm the fuck down." She grabbed his shoulder and yanked him backwards. He spun around on his heel to face his partner. "Be patient dammit. Take it up with Anderson! He's a human and he really likes your family."

"You don't think I've tried that already?!" He spoke through his teeth.

"Bitch, drop the attitude or I am walking." She warned.

Toren put his hands in his pockets shrugged his shoulders and looked away. "I'm sorry Plaice, I'm just really frustrated."

"I noticed." She sighed, before she could say anything Toren smirked and added.

"Took you a while to pick up on human behaviour."

She balled her fists and continued, irritated. "_As I was about to say_, you should bring it up with _Rheault_ then."

"Rheault?" He asked, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"I may not like her but she has her uses." She crossed her arms. Toren sighed at her implied _pureblood_ prejudice but pushed it aside for now.

"Alright. I'll go check with Rheault, while you monitor what ever our assignment was."

Alleris sighed as he completely gave her their workload. "Fine! But then I expect you to work double time when you get back." She swore, and walked off to the bureaus.

/-/

Darwyn sat comfortably onto the spin chairs from the holding cells. She had convinced Bailey to let her have some sort of decent seating before she'd get shipped off to holding cells in prison _or_ another unpleasant facility.

It didn't take long to scan the room. The was a metal table, 3 metal shitty chairs, the spin chair she was on, a suspended lamp, a clock and a two way mirror. She knew that numerous C-sec agents were keeping an eye on her from the other side of the glass.

She looked up at the ceiling of the holding cell… or was it an interrogation chamber without a chair? The small dots on the ceiling started to form shapes and faces the longer she stared at them.

_The enemies of the general may see the flag but will always fear the steed._

She remembered when she wrote it. The pilot of the Normandy was in a dark place or was going to be fairly soon and she had to do something, at least telling him that she never held him responsible for her sister's _so called_ death was enough.

Even if it hadn't it didn't matter now.

She still couldn't believe it. Her sister… alive? Not only that but the emblem on her squad member's suit: the stretched out hexagon with colours of orange and yellow… she had seen that symbol far too many times in such a short time to know exactly what it was… and fear it.

_Armada… what are you doing?_ She asked herself. The 10-year sentence now seemed so much larger…

As Darwyn's thoughts went from one to another, she found herself always going back to the pilot in the crutches.

He reminded her of a friend she used to have, a deceased friend, she had OI and died because of it. Her death was what pushed towards the study of bones and genetically transmitted disabilities.

His posture was good, considering, but his presence was… feeble. She stopped, grumbled out of frustration.

_I hate doing that!_ She facepalmed. _Brain stop doing that! Stop making everyone seem like a victim needed to be healed!_

She hated that part of her. No matter who it was, strong weak, healthy sick, rich poor, her brain always found little issues and then pushed her to solve them. All of them.

_Why can't I fix my own problems dammit?_ She wondered frustrated.

She remembered the visit she had accorded to the whole Normandy crew, just to see how they were coping, figures that the paparazzi/journalists would form up some weird drama by only publishing her visit to Joker's…

She saw the hurt in all of their eyes, she knew there'd be some to start with but… he was one who took it particularly worse than all the others. She wasn't referring to Joker this time.

She was referring to a man who kept everything bottled up and now couldn't tell Armada anything anymore. The hurt was from another source.

It was love… reciprocated love from one being to another without the other knowing.

And now he was changed.

/-/

"Got the Intel! Let's go!" Shepard ordered, grabbing the datapad from the desk. Miranda was in cover next to the door, Mordin was shooting from behind the counter and mercenaries were gaining ground slowly towards them.

"This group was going to assault Archangel's lair when they picked up our signal." Miranda said as she shot down another merc from the hall.

"Well then let's thin the numbers and get over there!" Shepard ordered while reloading her assault rifle. "Besides, what we kill here we won't have to kill over there." She switched weapons to her sniper rifle and reloaded that one too.

Shepard got out into the hall and shot at least 3 mercs dead before she ducked behind a column. She deployed her drone and got out of cover once more.

She still got the adrenaline from the sniper rifle but… she couldn't control it as she did before… it was a strange feeling that she missed awfully.

The drone made up for it though. She didn't have a name for it but she would eventually.

A bullet grazed her helmet as she ducked into cover once more.

"That was a clo-."

/-/

"..se one!" Archangel panted as a bullet grazed but an inch away from his arm. He reloaded his rifle once more and shot down another Eclipse merc. There were fewer Eclipse than he thought there would be but there was still a significant amount left standing.

He quickly came out from cover to shoot more mercs just to see a mech being activated.

"Aww crap." He swore.

/-/

"Shepard what are you doing?" Miranda yelled from the other side of the room. "We have what we need let's go!"

Shepard was glued to a computer. She was too busy rewiring codes and deciphering passwords to listen to Miranda's whining.

"Eclipse advancing. Must go now Shepard!"

"Keep your eyes and guns on that door!" She yelled back not taking her eyes off of the monitor. Her fingers flying over the keyboard like a memorised song that she'd play on the piano with a soundless accuracy.

She hit the _override_ and smirked.

There was a loading bar filling itself up and as the time ran out the live feed came onto the screen.

There was a buiding in front of her connected to a bridge where a lone turian was in cover. She spun the view around and saw crates blocking a larger hallway system where Eclipse mercs poured out of.

There was a redskinned salarian with a tactical shield.

_Never see me coming._ She smirked.

/-/

The mech's weaponry open fired onto the Eclipse mercs. Archangel could only help thin the numbers in pure disbelief… someone had hacked the mech's friend/foe identifier to his favour. It had made quite some progress with the mercs and had greatly aided Archangel, who now had a heavy mech to his defense.

Once all the mercs were down, the mech made its way towards the building where the turian had hid. It could not maneuver any further forwards.

It's _head_ looked up towards Archangel.

The turian looked straight into the camera lens and nodded.

The mech exploded.

/-/

All right! Let's get a move on people!" Armada ordered as she bolted towards the Mako.

"And what was all that for?" Miranda retorted. Armada sighed, was her XO always this insistent?

"I hacked the heavy mech attacking Archangel." Although Armada had found it a bit weird that an Eclipse base _this _remote would have such a terminal but she wasn't complaining.

"Besides, I now know where our dear Archangel is." They cut through waves of Eclipse and hopped into the Mako. "… and possibly _who_." She put the gas to the fullest before Mordin and Miranda could strap in.

/-/

"Miss Shepard? You have a call."

Darwyn's head popped upward as a guard came discreetly into the room. Her feet were up on the table and she was laid back against her chair starring at the ceiling. She quickly straitened out as the guard came a little closer to pose the_ phone_ on the table. It was grey with the blue screens from the datapads stick out from the grey block on both sides. It still had some features from the previous phones and its ancestry but it was still strange to see.

He pushed the phone towards Darwyn whilst keeping a 2-meter distance between them, and as soon as she picked it up, he walked backwards until he was out of the door.

Darwyn looked at him with a dubious look before putting the phone's receptor to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked.

"You are in big trouble missy!" Someone hissed from the other side.

Darwyn's face went white, her eyes opened wide and her throat dried up like sundried tomatoes.

"Mother?" She asked hesitant. "Mother how-?"

"Oh don't give me that Darwyn Malory Shepard! You know how I got this number!" Hannah scolded.

Darwyn thought but for a second before getting her answer: Toren. She rubbed her forehead and sighed, how to explain this to her mother without any overreactions or any further _Darwyn Malory Shepard_'s was nearly impossible.

"Granted that was a stupid question, but it doesn't change th-"

"What were you thinking? Were you high on that new sand?!" Darwyn had to remove the phone from her ear to save her eardrums from the wrath of the kraken. Her voice boomed out of it like loud rap beaming out of shitty earphones that would then burst from abuse after a week. Darwyn found herself hoping the phone was insured or something. She waited until the seas were still before putting the phone back to her ear.

"Mother dearest?" She hesitated, readying her hand to jerk the phone back away from her ear if need be.

"What!"

_One word reply. That's progress._ She thought. "Mother have you been updated with recent events?"

There was silence from the other side of the line. She tapped her foot while looking upwards waiting for some sort of reply… sound… breath?

"Which?" She heard.

Darwyn smiled, there was still a ways yet to tilt things to her advantage. She thought of softer ways to break the news to her but her mind refused to diffuse it. If she was going to break it down for her mother, she was going to do it the Shepard way: straightforward.

"Armada's alive."

/-/

Century observed the group's progress from her station safely inside an Eclipse base. She had a large monitor portraying everything needed to be seen, from the Omega system to everywhere else. She swung around on her chair to change her angle. She had hacked the camera feed to Darwyn's cell and followed the hallway cameras tracking Toren's movements.

Some would call her a creep. Others, like herself, see it as maintaining vigilance over people without them knowing.

Sure Darwyn knew people were keeping an eye on her but she didn't know Century was. That was how the system worked… in a perfect situation. As soon as Century's _target_ would feel watched, she did something wrong.

Darwyn had been wrong, it wasn't Toren who gave Hannah the number she needed, it was an _anonymous_ source. Century smirked.

She returned to Armada's progress. Just seeing her drive the Mako was hard on the stomach…

She could overhear the bickering of her sources from other systems and she could reroute any commercial ground transport to avoid a collision with Commander Shepard.

Who was going 140 in a 90 zone. Of course this was Omega but that wasn't something you'd tell to Aria once she fines you for destroying one of her building's foundations.

She kept her eyes on Armada for a while before one of her search engines was brought up on her screen. She had been looking for a person, one specific person since Armada's arrival and now her results were in.

"I don't believe it…" she widened her eyes. She brought up her omni tool and punched in Shepard's number.

/-/

"Armada you won't believe who I just tracked down." Century's voice boomed through the Mako's radio.

"Oh I'm pretty sure I can guess." She smiled.

Armada's arm was glowing orange from the Omni tool's glare.

"_On a hunch I tried tracking down some of your crew, and I found one._" Century replied.

Armada smirked as she cut a very short corner to the left, you could hear the tires squeal from the inside.

"Well let's see! There's Liara on Illium, Tali with the Flotila, Ashley on Virmire, Kaidan somewhere unimportant, Wrex on Tuchanka. That leaves Garrus, and he's on Omega."

"_Are you sure he's on Omega?_" Century asked.

"Positive." Armada got up from her seat opened the hatch of the Mako and hopped out. She put her helmet on and took out her sniper. "Just humour me! What did he do after the Normandy's destruction?"

The party advanced in the basement levels that lead to the bridge. "_Well he started to join the Spectres. Dropped out."_

Armada cut through waves of mercenaries, Blood pack members mostly, as Century continued the information flow.

"_He handed in his resignation to C-Sec, didn't go too well with Chellick by the looks of it._" Armada smirked, she didn't like Chellick that much either.

She took cover behind a garage like door. They could hear the distinct sound of Varren advancing with the blood pack.

"Oh really?" She replied to her dear turian friend. "What else?"

"_He visited Anderson, the conduit, and your tombstone many times._" Armada would never get used to hearing that. She had a _tombstone_… with her name on it… along with a birth and KIA date.

She closed the shutters to avoid having any more Blood pack enter the basement and sprinted towards another.

"_C-Sec tried to take him back many times but he refused them._" The shutter was closed.

_On to the next._ She thought.

"_He ended up on Omega._" Century filtered some of the junk information while Armada started killing flame throwing vorchas.

"_He met up with ex-military, c-sec, STG… the usual vigilante types._"

Armada made her way up the stairs, past the weapon locker and up.

"_Bla, bla, bla… rubbish, rubbish… Watch out for the Krogan._"

Armada sighed. She was running _after_ the Krogan up a flight of stairs while the rest of her party was busy with the killing of its minions.

"Archangel!" The Krogan growled. Holding onto his shotgun pretty damn tightly.

Armada pummelled him in the back to grab his attention but it did nothing to side track the moving tank of his goal: Archangel.

She summoned her combat drone to intercept the Krogan, but nothing could slow him down.

"Fine." She hissed between her teeth. She sprinted towards the Krogan as they entered Archangel's penthouse. The turian abruptly turned towards the Krogan and failed to see the N7 ex-spectre sprinting behind him.

Archangel loosened a couple rounds in the krogan's knees but that did little to no effect on him.

Armada could see a change in the krogan's body movement. His shoulders were flexing, his back rearing and his knees buckling. An _I AM KROGAN_ was going to be heard very soon.

"No you don't!" She growled. As she said _"don't"_ she jumped onto his back, causing his balance to sway to a very low degree. With her legs around his _neck_ she yanked backwards and the krogan timbered to the ground.

"_Very nice._" Century commented over the comm.

Armada would have to congratulate herself later. She hopped to her feet in an instant and bolted towards Archangel's cover. She hopped over the couch and ducked her head into cover next to him.

"You can thank me later." She smiled. Archangel just looked at her… shocked? Disappointed? She couldn't tell because of the damn helmet.

"_Or_ now, what ever floats your boat."

"Shepard?" He asked. Armada just flashed him a smirk. She tapped his family crest on his armour. "You're a sight for sore eyes Vakarian. Been working out?" She ducked out of cover to shoot at this _Garm_ creature.

"I'd love to tell you the whole story, but…" He started and cocked his head to the side. "What do you say we give this freak of nature his eulogy?"

She looked towards him and saw his hand in her direction, opened fingers and reaching for hers.

"It would be my pleasure, Vakarian." She grabbed his forearm and they shook it just like old friends.

"Huh. Would you look at that…" Century smirked. She crossed her arms and leaned back into her chair. "He recognized her through her helmet."

_Like if he was just waiting for it to happen._ She thought. _Like if she never died…_

"Die you... son of a -." Shepard growled as she ducked out of cover to shoot 3 powerful shots into the Krogan's abdomen. She saw the burst of his shield as he reared backwards, arms flexed.

"Oh fu-."

"I AM KROGAN!" He bellowed as his entire body shifted forwards towards Armada.

Nothing but a single shot's echo was heard and Garm flopped lifeless to the floor, not a meter away from Armada.

She looked up to see the blue armoured turian's sniper rifle emitting some smoke.

"Thanks Vakarian." She smiled, hands on her knees panting. "Thought he was gonna charge on my ass." She removed her helmet and shuffled some strands of her blonde hair. " 'preciate it." She added as she flopped down to the couch.

The turian walked forwards towards Shepard, removed his helmet and put it down on the crate closest to him. It was indeed Garrus... yet he wasn't the same.

He didn't have that young look in his eye. He was hardened, tried and tested with time… along with scarred: you could see it in his eyes. Yet no matter how he had changed, he still regarded Shepard with only his kindest of eyes, if turian eyes could be kind that was.

"Shepard… I thought you were dead." He put simply.

She chuckled as she rose from the couch towards her turian friend. "I was Garrus." She took a couple steps towards him. "I was." She rubbed her forehead. "I'm still not used to saying it…"

"No one should." He added, leaning on one leg.

She smiled sadly and advanced at a quickened pace towards the turian vigilante. She put her arms though the empty spaces under his arms and tightened her grip. Her body was brought close to his and her head rested nicely on his large collar armour. Her eyes were shut tight.

Garrus wasn't expecting such a human custom… he didn't even know what it meant. He saw many humans interchange these kinds of … interactions but in too many variable meanings, he did not know the goal of this one.

"It's good to see you, _Archangel_." Her confession muffled against the blue armour of the turian, but he overheard.

He mimicked her position, enlacing her in his long arms although lacking flexibility to pose his head any lower.

Miranda observed the two. It was strange to her for the files hadn't mentioned Armada's attachment to the turian. Sure, she wasn't seen without him and he was often pictured as her henchman… but Shepard was also a bubbling emotion factory when they bumped into Tali on Freedom's Progress… maybe she was just unofficially touchy when it came to reunions.

On one side Miranda was surprised that Armada loved her alien crew, another side insisted that she become human first to furthermore cooperate with Cerberus, and a much smaller side marvelled at her height. Turians on average were 6 to 7 feet high and Armada was nothing but half a head's height shorter than the turian.

Either Armada was taller than she seemed, or Garrus was a short turian.

She recalled older pictures of the Normandy crew… Shepard was taller than Ashley and Kaidan…

_How tall are you Shepard_? She asked herself. _Did Lazarus make you taller?_ She pushed the thought away. There was no way that could be true. If it were, Lazarus would have failed and that wasn't possible.

"That was you controlling the Mech wasn't it?" He asked looking into her eyes.

Armada was going to answer but cut was she was going to say. "Wait." She detached herself from her henchman and walked to the balcony/window.

She heard humming. A distant humming. "Garrus…?" she called. The turian turned to face her. "Do the Blue Suns have any hovering locomotives?" she asked while scanning as much as she could see.

"Awww crap…" he swore.

The humming was getting louder and louder. "Get down!" Armada ordered. Her team and Garrus took instant cover behind what ever they could find as a blue sun's gunship pulled up.

"_Archangel!_" He called opening fire.

Armada reloaded her heavy pistol as she glanced to where her crew was covered. Garrus had found a spot near those couches next to Mordin and Miranda was somewhere behind the crates.

"Mordin!" She called. He confirmed with his earpiece.

/-/

"_Kill it with fire._" He heard her order. He smiled preparing his omni tool for incineration. Garrus glanced in his direction.

"This should be easy!" He said as he ducked out of cover and burst a combustible wave towards the gunship.

/-/

"_Miranda! Why don't you overload his shields?_"

She ducked out of cover. "With pleasure Commander!" She waved her omni tool and a blue shock ball made its way to the gun ship, near the same time Armada sent one of her own blasts.

/-/

The team opened fire on the gunship until it cowered away. "What is it doing?" Armada demanded.

"It's repelling troops down the window!" Miranda answered changing her cover angle to face the larger window.

Mordin and Miranda moved up behind the closer cover sections, being fighters with SMGs. Armada took cover beside Garrus. She changed to her sniper rifle as she sent out a combat drone. Garrus eyed the drone slightly distracted.

"Not an infiltrator anymore Commander?" He asked as he shot down one of the blue armoured mercenaries.

"Honestly Vakarian, I have no idea." She got out of cover and started shooting down some mercs. "I'll tell you what." She lined up another shot. "Live, and you're welcome on the Normandy."

"I considered myself recruited as soon as the Mako started showing on the perimeter cameras." They shot in unison and two mercs went down with hole in their helmets.


	8. Aria

A/N: if there are any grammar mistakes, please notify! Thank you! Sorry for the delay! Got lazy…

Virtuous Bullet: Collected  
Aria

"You'll have to tell me all about this Archangel thing of yours!" Armada smiled as the battle continued.

Garrus chuckled. "Curiosity hits you in the worst times Shepard!"

"What can I say?" she shrugged as she incinerated another merc. "I'm out of the loop here."

"Watch out!" Miranda warned as the gunship came back around for another round.

"Shit!" Armada swore as she rolled into cover. The gunship shot a missile to where Shepard had been, separating the Commander and her henchman. It focused all its fire on Archangel.

In nothing more than 30 seconds Garrus flinched, a missile from the gunship hit to where he was and the blast made him fly to the ground a few meters away from where she was covered.

Her ears rung from the numerous blasts as the only sound she could hear was the echo of her breathing and pulse. She caught a blue sun's merc throw a grenade to where Garrus had gone down.

She frowned as the grenade bounced on the floor; she rolled towards Garrus, grabbed the grenade and launched it back towards the horde of Blue Suns. Without any lost time Armada grabbed onto Garrus and hauled him behind cover before the Gunship would come back down and start bombarding the already severely injured vigilante. The explosion of the grenade took down at least 3 mercs.

"Sorry Garrus." She apologized as his head hit the couch.

"Shepard!" Miranda called. The Blue Suns were gaining on their position and the Gunship was cutting off their retreat.

"Hang on Lawson!" She yelled back over the bullets and missiles. She reached a blood coagulant from her pocket.

"Shep… what's…?" He tried.

Armada didn't answer as she ripped open the package and poured it in the gaping wound on Garrus' face. His eyes shot open, his throat went dry and he felt a major pain strike through his body coming from his head. Then the pain dialled down and he felt… warm?

"Wha…?"

"It's a blood coagulator. It makes your blood thicker so that your circulation slows and you'll lose less blood because of it." Her armour was covered in blue now. She had put his head on the floor and she used her own body as a shield to protect him from the Blue Suns flanking them. She summoned her combat drone to her side and it went off for another run, making the mercs come out of cover.

"Miranda! Mordin! Pull back to the lobby!" She ordered. The squad members slowly made their way towards the Commander and the downed turian.

"Focus all your abilities on that Gunship! I want that thing to go down with its pilot!" She reloaded her sniper rifle. "I'll take care of the Suns." She changed the configurations on her visor, the blueish glare became red as her visor had already picked out its victims.

She took a deep breath and raised her rifle.

/-/

"So you were the pilot for the Commander's first ship too?" Hadley asked the Normandy SR2's pilot.

Joker sighed. "Naturally." He replied.

"Was she any easier to fly?" He might as well be nudging Joker with a wooden stick. "I mean, the SR2 is much bigger."

Joker didn't feel the need to comment.

"And has a shuttle." Hadley added.

Another moment of silence.

"And a faster elevator."

Joker grumbled, couldn't Hadley get the hint?

Another moment of silence.

"I wonder what meeting Darwyn Shepard is like." Hadley had caught Joker off-guard for that one. _Suupppeerr random there, bud._ The pilot sighed. "She isn't what you'd expect really." He replied. Mathews snickered.

"That's what they say about the consort you know."

_Here we go._ Joker thought. He knew getting used to civilian chatter was going to take some time, but why did Hadley and Mathews be posted right outside his station?

"I miss Presley." He mumbled.

"Who's Presley?" Hadley asked. Joker rolled his eyes, why did he say anything? By now he was just asking for it.

"The Commader's previous XO." Joker replied.

"Did she wear a cat suit?" Mathews asked, joining into Hadley annoy campaign.

"No!" Joker squirmed and got sick at the thought. He turned towards Hadley and saw that his smile was broad and his companions were trying to hold in their laughs.

_Two can play at this game._ He smirked.

"Why not?" Hadley pushed.

"Because Pressley was older, firmer, military through and through. As well as punctual, disciplined and not to mention: a man, I do not see him in a cat suit, or so help me!"

"_Me neither, Joker_." The comm answered.

The crew laughed as they heard Chakwas' voice.

"It wouldn't flatter his robust posture?" Joker asked, teasingly.

"_Too many female crewmembers would be jealous, Joker."_ She replied with her usual light hearted chuckle.

"Yourself included?" Hadley asked.

Joker smiled, this banter he could get used to.

She huffed._ "Pressley had nothing on me."_

Joker was about to reply something clever until EDI's interface flared up.  
"Commander Shepard is requesting immediate medical attention for Archangel from the Normandy."

"Doctor, You hear that?" Joker asked.

"_I'll be ready. It's been a while since I've gotten an emergency situation."_

"I'd thought you'd rather keep it that way." He mumbled.

He hadn't gotten any clever retorts from Hadley or Mathews that time.

/-/

"Hold on Vakarian!" Shepard encouraged as she shot down yet another merc, this one being Jentha.

She could feel his grip on her thigh failing. "Mordin! Never mind the gunship, attend to his wounds!"

She barked. The salarian rushed to the turian's side and opened his omnitool.

"Do anything you can to slow the blood loss!"

"I know Shepard." He replied, as if it were habit.

Miranda had tossed over another overload towards the gunship's newly spawned shields and took them down. "Shields are down!" She smiled.

"Only say so when your own are depleted Lawson!" Shepard ordered reloading her weapon. The thermal clip jammed into the mechanism. She cursed loudly, tossed it aside for the moment and quickly drew her pistol. She heard Garrus mumble something but she paid no attention to its sense. Words were enough to reassure that he was alive.

"Yes Commander…"

Shepard ignored Miranda and reached down towards Garrus, reassuring him once more but her hand met something else… Something that wasn't his usual armour that she'd gotten accustom to feeling now.

It was cold and it was freshly cleaned. She looked down for a wee bit and saw a rectangular sized grey box, it's metal emitted the light a certain way and the lock had been voice coded. Her gaze did not linger long though as the gunship came around for another round.

"Tarrak you son of a bitch." She grumbled as she took out her grenade launcher. "That's enough now." She got ready to aim once the missiles stopped raining on them. "Now it's my turn to play with my toys."

Miranda rolled her eyes. The first chance Armada had the chance to plant grenades on a moving target was in the Eclipse building… where she completely missed the target. Yet again on the gunship barely five minutes past, completely missed. Hopefully… she learnt how to use it by now.

She raised the launcher up to her eyes and aimed towards the gunship. "Won't elude me twice." She smirked, mending to her broken ego.

3 shots later Tarrak's gunship was nothing but a lights show for the stray cats… Shepard bent over Garrus, shielding him from the blast and residue flying everywhere. Once the debris settled, she looked down towards Garrus and held his 3-fingered hand in her own armoured glove. "Garrus." She asked, hoping to retrieve a reaction from him.

Garrus pulled his rifle towards himself; Armada thought that it looked like a funeral salute. "You're not giving up on me so easy are you Vakarian?" she asked calmly, holding onto his hand tightly.

She had given the comms to Miranda; her XO was perfectly able to retrieve Chakwas' location and directing her to where the injured turian was.

She heard gurgling sounds from where he was; loud gasping and struggling followed it.

"Come on Vakarian, Chakwas is on her way…" She held onto his blue armour, slightly shaking him, annoying him to some extent.

Mordin had already started slowing down the bleeding with what he had but if they were going to save Garrus they needed the equipment Chakwas was coming with then a quick exit to the Normandy's med bay.

There was a car in the far off distance that landed on the bridge.

"Shit." Shepard swore. She grabbed her assault rifle and threw herself under the window in cover followed by Miranda. Mordin stayed on Garrus.

There were no shots from across the bridge or from it.

Armada quickly glanced over her cover and saw the red car parked nicely in the center of the walkway where the mech had gotten destroyed. There were 3 occupants in it.

Slowly the door opened and a turian and two bodyguards, one krogan and one salarian came out of the car. All wearing the black armour and red line uniform and helmet. Armada smiled and Miranda relaxed.

It was Century.

"Hey Century!" Armada called, waving her over. The turian removed her helmet. "Mind if I borrow your car?"

Century sighed.

/-SR2-/

"We've sent what we found to Aria's people, she seems glad that we've considered sharing this with her."

"Has she agreed to our terms?" Armada asked Jacob, crossing her arms and pacing around the meeting table.

"She hasn't made that clear to us just yet." Jacob seemed… uneasy. "The Cerberus background may have something to do about that." Armada brought her hand to her chin, balled her fists.

_Of course it does_. She thought. She sighed and looked up towards Jacob. "What about Garrus?"

"… the Doc did everything she could but…" Jacob's elbows touched the table as he leaned down. "Even with your informants resources, he will never be the same…"

Armada nodded and silently dismissed him.

"Miranda would like you to know that we've retrieved his personal effects and brought them to the cargo bay…"

"Understood Taylor."

The doors swooshed open. Armada expected Jacob to leave momentarily but he lingered a while longer, out in the hall.

"Tough son of a bitch." He mumbled, amazed.

Armada turned around and saw Taylor, still in the doorway of the mess looking towards the armoury. She heard deep footsteps making their way to the room she was in.

She moved forwards, towards the doors and saw no other than Garrus Vakarian walking down to meet them.

Before she could say anything to rectify her large idiot grin, Garrus started.

"Nobody is giving me a mirror. How bad is it?" He directed his fingers to the large slab of bandaging on his right side.

"That depends on what you consider bad." She grinned crossing her arms, appalled to see him. She knew he'd be fine and his… injuries had been concerning but… this was Garrus Vakarian they were referring to here.

"Bad would be mistaking me for a Krogan." He looked to the side, thinking. "Or an asari." He added.

She chuckled. "Hell Garrus, you could have done that without the help of a missile." She pat his shoulder. "Besides, I don't recall seeing many Krogan who redefine the fashion statement amongst battle scars.

From the corner of her eyesight she saw Taylor make his salute and retire to his post, leaving the ancient SR1s together.

"There's nothing like gunship injuries for an excuse to accessorise." He replied, humour slowly surfacing.

"That's too bad! I'll have to get you a new grenade belt to go with it."

"Heh. With what funding?" He asked.

She thought about it. Where had all her previous funds gone? A question for another time…

"Who says I'm buying?" she directed him inside Mordin's lab.

She missed that turian. There weren't a lot of humans, or living organisms, that stood as high as she. Turians were mostly all as tall as she was, 6 feet tall being the norm.

She was 6 foot 3, he was 6 foot 5… and he had talons.

Most marines would meet her height in armour while she would not… It was nice to rest her neck for a time. Talking to Krogan was always… strange. Considering their heads never rose higher than the average human chest.

He thought for a second before answering. "That leaves, theft, looting, fabricating and borrowing." They'd reached the CIC. Garrus' eyes widened. He rushed through the CIC in order to get to Shepard; he hadn't taken the time to observe the SR2.

Armada caught on to the vibe.

"How 'bout we continue this conversation later and give you the tour?"

"I suppose talking can wait." He smirked.

/-/

She smiles more, she permits more human contacts, and she laughs she'd seen those before.

The files had most of Garrus' professional portfolio but it seemed to conveniently lack his psych profile.

_Interesting._ She thought, as she perused through the files she'd received. _Very interesting. _She thought once more. Her eyes looked away from the monitor's screens as she kept an eye on the Commander and the Vigilante.

The Commander could be touchy when it came to her friends… maybe. She'd been protective over Joker before but this was something else. _Sometimes the answers we're looking for are right before us_. She reasoned while returning to work, with a smirk.

The Commander was going to be fine.

/-Citadel-/

Click. The dry sound of the last buckle made some strange adrenaline rush through his veins. He stretched out his shoulder muscles and rolled his head. His fingers flexed and bent to fill out the gloves perfectly.

He heard his partner's thermal clip pop in behind him.

"Would you stop acting like a wrestler and get your stuff on?" She nagged. He smiled.

"It's not a wrestler thing, it's a marine thing." He replied reaching for the heavy pistol in his locker.

She had lifted her leg on the bench and strapped the sparring knife to he calf.

"Either way it's bravado." She mumbled.

He smiled.

Their equipment didn't reflect the usual C-Sec uniforms; they were inquisitors… the _special_ police.

An N7 like pants, shoulder guards, the typical medium armour breastplate, larger holsters and bla bla bla.

They had been called down to the wards for another irrelevant inquiry. Toren gazed up to the office windows… he knew why Alleris and he had been deployed…

Darwyn was to be moved and they didn't want him near her next location.

_Bastards._ He swore.

But procedure was procedure… and if he didn't want to lose his present job he was expected to fulfill his duty.

/-SR2-/

"So you put the velociraptor to bed?"

Armada put her arms on the backrest of the leather chair and put her chin on her arms.

"He's had a hard day Joker." She replied, indifferent to his taunt.

"He always seems to have a bad day." He replied. "Hell, I can't tell when he's happy." He mumbled.

Armada chuckled once. "I can." She lifted her chin from her arms and straightened her back a bit. "I can feel happiness seeping from him when he snipes down targets… stronger when it gets to the head." She grinned and could feel the unease the pilot received.

Joker squirmed slightly, disturbed by Shepard had been telling it.

"And I thought Krogan were sadistic." He replied.

Armada maintained her seriousness but inside beamed. She loved the little things that made her forget Lazarus…

"If I didn't know you any better, I'd thought that you'd enjoy that too, Commander."

Armada sighed. "I'm not 100% stable just yet. I'll return to my righteous self in no time."

"… and become the beaming example of the human race… and blab la bla." He turned to face the Commander. "No offense, but I'm happy you don't delegate part of the fame to your crew, I'm rather happy not to stand for hours."

"Speaking of which…" she nudged behind his neck with her index finger. "What about those implants Cerberus promised you? Did you get 'em?"

"Parts of what was promised." He admitted. "Parts were to be installed after the mission, which is the expected half of a rip off."

"After the mission?" Armada's eyebrow rose.

"I know, what a bloodsucker."

"No kidding." She agreed.

"_Commander, we've recovered some of your personal belongings. They're in the Cargo bay waiting for you._"

"Thank you EDI." Armada lazily straightened out from the pilot's chair. "Well, Joker it's been fun. I'll be back for sure." She turned her heels and started walking down the hall. "Oh hey! I might of found a specialist to look at your… particular case, Moreau." He rose an eyebrow and turned his chair towards the corridor.

"Say what?" He asked. He felt his pride hurt a little… his Commander had mustered the need to look for a doctor for him… ouch.

"I might be able to recruit Doctor Darwyn Shepard after all." She smiled and waved him, going down the stairs into the lobby of the CIC.

_Well what do you know… you were right after all._ He thought gleefully.

"Oooh! The Commander is trying to hook you up Joker!" Mathew teased.

"Well, well, well… look at who's jealous." He replied smiling turning his chair back to its usual position facing the empty void of space.

/-Cargo Bay of the SR2-/

"You've got to be kidding me…"

The Cargo bay had piles and piles of boxes as far as the eye could see. A crewman stood beside her with his datapad in hand next to her in the elevator nodding.

"Yes Ma'am. These are the goods we've recovered."

"From where?" She walked forwards towards the first couple of boxes.

"Various places. Many of these objects were auctioned off after your passing and Cerberus has done what it can to find them all." He paused for a moment. "Most of them anyway."

"I don't remember owning so much stuff." She turned to him. His Cerberus uniform was worn neatly, his black hair cut by military standards (like most crewmen did out of respect for their Commander), and his posture a tried imitation of _at ease_, once again out of respect for the Commander.

"Some of it isn't even yours." He looked at the datapad. "Some of these belong to your sister Darwyn Malory, some are crates filled with older datapads with your credential information, old trophies, and even a couple of those crates are filled with mementos that people sent off for you."

"What about ship models?" the side of her lip twitched upward.

The crewman broke into a smile, erasing the seriousness from before. He seemed much more human like so… In time she'd teach her crew to calm down around her.

"Unfortunately, no ship models were sent for you Commander."

She pouted while putting her hands on her hips. "Bugger." She shrugged her shoulders. "Well! I better get to it!"

"Yes, Commander." He inclined his head and walked towards the elevator doors, he knew when he was no longer needed. "If you need any assistance, don't forget about EDI."

"She'll be of more use to me as company." She smiled moving one of the crates to the floor.

"As you say Commander."

"Now you can go back to whatever you were doing before this, I shall bug EDI if I need anything."

"Yes Commander."

The doors closed.

Armada crossed her arms, surveying the cargo bay. It would take her a lot of time to filter through everything.

Before she could get started the glowing orange aura of her omnitool lit. She heard a little bell announcing a new e-mail.

She opened it up and within seconds accessed her mail.

New Message (1)

- - Opened - -

To: Armada Jane Shepard  
Subject: Regarding Omega  
From: Aria T'Loak

Shepard,

I've examined the information you've sent me. I've revised your deal in exchange for it; honestly I'm surprised you didn't ask for more. I know what's at stake for you, which gives me the ideal high ground. Lucky for you, my part in your agreement is nothing but my word.

You will have it.

She smiled. One counsellor down, two to go.


	9. Extraction

A/N: if there are any grammar mistakes, please notify!  
_(PS: This chapter has many POV changes... brace yourselves for OCs. There aren't that many more after this)_

Virtuous Bullet: Collected  
Extraction

She was silent as she read the message she'd received moments before. Her facial expression blank, concentration entirely on the words displayed. As the message ended she inhaled s if she'd forgotten to breathe at all while reading.

Her assistant waited patiently as she recollected her thoughts.

"Irissa?" she called.

The asari standing next to her right moved forwards, hearing her name.

"Yes, Councilor Tevos?"

She took some time before saying anything more. "My position on Commander Shepard's proposition has changed. In light of this new information, I change my declination to approval."

"Pardon?"

"I change my standing to approve of Darwyn Shepard's time to be served onto the Normandy SR2 for as long as the restraining conditions are met." She got up and looked out of the large window in her office. There the Destiny Ascension patrolled Citadel Space, if it weren't for that ship and the rest of the human Alliance she'd be dead. If Darwyn Malory were an asari she'd be able to solve this issue her way but she was not.

This was a delicate situation. One that Armada has, so far, played very well.

/-SR2-/

Her legs were crossed on the chair, her elbows laid out on her cabin's desk. To her right there was an empty mural… she supposed that it was for show but she had always been practical. She knew she'd pile up old ship models in there somehow.

Behind her she had her gigantic bed, and behind that she had her armour locker.

She had an empty fish tank, empty shelves, empty drawers… there weren't even towels in her bathroom, the Ship still smelt new…

She eyed the reports with a drained face… even in terrorist organizations she had homework.

She tossed the datapad back onto her desk like making a rock skip on a lake.

She brought her knee up to her chest and wrapped her arms around it.

Her baggy grey sweat pants held up thanks to an elastic belt she tied around her hips. Her upsize brown shirt had a neck hole inches larger than her own. Its original scent had worn off long ago but Armada could still manage to smell it: the mid-thirties father smell.

She could match the height of her father but not his bulk… she probably never would.

She felt her eyelids lower slowly.

_Maybe… Sleep would do me some good_. She caved.

She felt a nice wave of relaxation come over her as she dozed off…

/-Dreamland-/

_SR1. Kaidan, Ashley, eternal elevator, Tantalus core, Alliance everywhere. Anderson. Nihlus. Garrus… … _

_**Red.**__ Warnings. Shaking. Yellow beam… lasers… Ashley's gone. Kaidan's there… fire extinguisher… _

_Run… running up… sparks of the galaxy map… chairs floating … Saren… Sovereign… _

_**Red**__ flashes, loud noises, breathing… loud breathing… _

"_**SHEPARD**__!" A hand goes out to reach her but fails… Green eyes, darkness… nothing… snow… _

_**Cold**__. Obscurity… metal… tools… blur in the eyes. Look around… Wilson… Miranda… logo._

_**No**__. Please no! Not them! No!_

_**Black**__ orange yellow white… his eyes! Saren? Smoke… the man! His eyes! The colours… blorange yellite… _

_**Countdown**__. Numbers._

_**3**__…_

_running. Alliance. Civilians… hysteria._

_**2**__…_

_bumping. Tripping. Panic._

_**1**__…_

_**Dad**__?_

/-SR2-/

She gasps, her eyes open, she recovers her balance before falling off the chair. She glance at the clock to her bedside, barely 15 minutes had passed since she last glance to see the time. Her brow, amongst other things, was sweaty. A feeling that she was strangely getting used to.

"Not again." She groaned. She brought her hands to her face and, unattractively, rubbed her face bringing her skin down with her fingers.

"Is everything alright, Commander Shepard?"

She lazily turned her gaze towards the blue bulb. Her robotic voice started to grow on her…

"I'll be fine EDI." She smiled faintly.

"Very well."

Usually EDI would just sign off or disappear, but her bulb remained. Armada raised an eyebrow.

"Yes EDI?"

"You're omnitool is glowing."

Shepard looked down at her arm and sure enough… the orange lure had been activated. She always knew it was a bad habit going to sleep with her omnitool.

She clicked around for a couple seconds.

[New Message (1)]

- Opened –  
To: Armada Jane Shepard  
Subject: Regarding Omega  
From: Aria T'loak

Shepard,

It is done.  
[End]

A large smile took its place on her face. _Ahhh Tevos… how could you be so easy?_

"Good news EDI. I got Tevos on my side."

"I know Commander."

_Heh. Of course you do._ She thought.

Somehow sleep had gotten a tad bit easier that time around.

/-SPIT Base-/

"Sir? You summoned me?" A young asari woman asked. She had a datapad in hand, purple skin tone yet blue scalp, the typical Illium uniform attire with the company logo nested on the collar behind the neck.

The man of interest was seated at his desk, a rather large desk. Some might say it's excessively large for his line of work but it soothes him to have a large work surface. On his desk he had a total of three computers, his paper memos and a picture frame that he now held in his hands.

The picture showed five people.

Two of which were adult humans. The man wore a typical Alliance soldier casual shirt and pants, he'd never seen him out of Alliance brand clothing anyway. He had started to have grey strands among his light blond hair; his eyes stayed the same blue, albeit surrounded by wrinkles.

The woman next to him, to his left, had tied her long tameable darker blond hair into a bun. She had adopted something other than Alliance grade appearance but kept a pin pinioned onto the collar of her white short-sleeved blouse. The only other colours she wore were her black pants and pale blue undershirt. Both adults smiled in the picture holding to each other's arm.

Beside the man stood a tall woman of 22. She wore a grey T-shirt with a pink/red overlapping cardigan with cargo style black pants with slender boots that ended halfway down her calves. Her blond hair stopped at her shoulders and reflected the light like the other two. She had the same blue eyes… accentuated by light eye make-up she put on. She almost reached the man's height. It seemed her height and smiles were larger than others.

To the right of the older woman stood a young man, fresh into his twenties. His bangs needed to be trimmed since the tips of his dirty blond hair were able to slightly overlap the military cut he'd been maintaining. His arms were crossed and a smile put on his lips. He wore a _clean_ black shirt with navy pants, an expensive looking watch on his wrists, and his dog tags around his neck. His grin was sincere and warm. The details around the young man were his fresh cuts and bruises on his arms and a couple on his neck. A month or two prior to the picture he and his youngest sister had been a part of the Skyllian Blitz. He even wore the medal he'd gained on his shirt.

To the front of the group was the youngest, at the age of 18. She was kneeled on one knee, her body turned to the side, her arms flexed out as she comically showed her musculature with a large smile. Her injuries weren't as visible as her brother's, but distinct discolouration of her skin in certain parts indicated a rapid use of medigel. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, auburn roots started to reveal themselves, and her green eyes distinct from the usual blues in the others. She wore a long-sleeved shirt that resembled under armour that left only her shoulders bare. The sleeves became a different fabric at the elbows and her collar was of the same green as her sleeves. Her pants were gray and made of the newest fabric the young were wearing at the time. She was 4 years younger than the oldest daughter.

On the metal frame he had carved '_Year 2176'_. Since that year, he looked at this picture often.

That same year, the son was forced to resign from the Alliance before being able to take the N7 evaluation by the cause of political tensions between batarians and humans. The boy was unable to find another suitable employment until two years later.

Two months after the new year of 2177, the oldest daughter was sent on a mission to Akuze to examine a distress signal. She had returned as the only survivor and lost her smile for a long time.

Still in 2177, the youngest had suddenly been refused into the Alliance academy she had been submitted to, thanks to stronger levels of untrained biotic potential that is _unfit for the medical ward_. Leaving her in a complicated situation.

And the last event to have marked the family in the picture in 2177, when the eldest woman received a consolation letter announcing the death of her husband on the field while he fulfilled his duties on the planet Benning in the Euler system.

The picture he had exhibited on his desk was the last picture of the whole Shepard family together.

His clawed thumb rubbed the surface of Robert's face removing the small specks of dust that fell barely an hour before.

His chair was wheeled to face his window. The tall window was smaller than his desk but only by a couple inches. It gave him a great view of Illium's… should we say: _Omega_ side. There weren't many tourists around this sector.

He stood up, rising slowly from his chair. He always had a flare for the dramatic as the light from the window gave him a beautiful silhouette. The turian's slender shape was admirable indeed.

He turned his head towards the young asari, his fringe now in the light.

"Indeed." He turned and walked two steps to pose the frame back on his desk. "I have."

"May I ask what for?"

"You may." He replied pivoting the chair by grasping the headrest turning it back around inside his desk's empty space under it. "Have we received any new transmissions from agent Millennia?" He took a seat into the chair. The asari wondered why he didn't stay seated in the first place.

"No sir." She replied as she quickly checked her datapad.

He brought his hands together, his chin touching his knuckles, a very _turian_ thing to do. "It seems Sparatus is harder to convince than I initially believed." He starred blandly into one of his monitors.

"Sir? May I ask why Counsellor Sparatus?"

He lifted his gaze towards the asari. "He worries for his safety, my dear. Darwyn Shepard is a very powerful profile… and name."

"Surely she can't be as dangerous as people make her seem." She took the seat in front of the turian's desk.

The turian huffed. "My dear, you have been greatly misinformed." He flipped his monitors for her to see what information he brought up.

They were newscasts, pictures, captions… you name it. All of them had Darwyn Shepard's profile somewhere in it.

"Darwyn Shepard received the medal of bravery at Elysium while she was just 18 and an Alliance conscript in 2176." The asari paid close attention to the details he pointed out. "In 2177, the year of her father's decease, she was refused to study furthermore in the medical ward following a new discovery of biotic potential. Two years later, around 2179, she finds a ward with access to medical training and biotic perfection run by retired sentinels, vanguards and infiltrators of the alliance at the Citadel. There she studied long and hard, found a profession and trained her mind to her biotic skill." He changed the pictures to more recent ones.

"But it was in 2178 that she and I started discussing a collaboration… a market if you will, to expand aid to suffering sentinels and vanguards, the primary focus were the L2 biotics."

"She helped you start the company?" She asked, her eyes widening.

"Who are you kidding? She handed me the company, I just rationalized her ideas into possibilities." He thought for a moment. "Back then it was called Technologic Advancement for Sentinels and Vanguards. Opened its doors for the first time in 2180."

The asari nodded. "5 years ago."

"Precisely." He nodded. "The rest, you already know. She takes justice in her own hands, threatens the Council members, vandalizes the chamber, flees, changes the company name: Sentinel's Performance Improving Technologic sources, gets arrested, and now stands trial."

The asari nodded to those. She did indeed know of her present state.

"But she's dangerous for different reasons…" He added after some time. He waited till her eyes looked up before continuing. "She's made friends in certain places, ran with her gut when covering her tracks, no one truly knows how strong she is in terms of biotics… she has many unknowns that only she is aware to the existence."

"So… she's dangerous because of… mystery?"

"No. She's dangerous because she can wield it." He brought his hands back together once more. "And the council are all the proof I need to support that argument."

Before the asari could ask anything else, the center monitor had gone off. A top priority message had come through.

Within seconds of the monitor's announcement, he had opened the file and filtered the junk and essential parts.

He grunted. He hated to travel.

"It seems I am needed elsewhere." He announced, deleting the e-mail though his tight programing. He rose to his feet, straightened his collar. "Sparatus needs some convincing."

"What makes you think you can crack him?"

"I know Sparatus and he knows what I do." He answered simply. "Take the messages, Andrea is in charge." He added before leaving the room, hearing the asari sigh as the door closed behind him.

He walked down the grey hallway where numerous paintings of fights, biotics, technology and survival were portrayed. At the end of the hall he scanned the inscription engraved in his left thumb claw. The light for locked switched to green instantly.

"Good luck, Andolus Rotal." The A.I announced as he made his way into the room. "Your armour has been patched up and your gun cleaned."

He didn't even bother to say thank you to the A.I, she knew he thought it.

He looked at the black armour with red fillings hung on the wall hangers. He knew that as soon as the armour was on he became one of the most unheard of information traders on the market… but also the most consulted.

S.P.I.T.s may have his heart and soul, but in these instances he was allowed to hold a gun and on occasion: shoot it.

/-Past-/

_The weight of the pistol was lighter than before. It seemed that their muscles had gotten used to its weight and feel._

_They were lined up, oldest to youngest, in a line facing the shooting range wearing the required equipment. The three of them had a different shade of blonde hair sticking out of the helmet._

"_When I say Fire, you will shoot once and ONLY once." The Sergeant ordered through the communicators. "Am I understood?"_

"_Yes sir." The three replied._

_He stood at ease behind the three teens. "Fire!"_

_The eldest and middle child shot at the same precise time in unison ending with one gunshot sound and the third was heard half a second later._

"_Good." He eyed over to the middle child's target. The bullet lodged itself in the middle of the bull's eye. "Sharp as usual, Toren." He smirked. He glanced over to where the youngest was. Her shot had landed a little to the right but otherwise still good to stay in the center target._

"_I can see improvement Dwyn." He nodded. "Keep it up."_

_He glanced over to the eldest's shot._

_He looked for a while but could not spot the bullet. "Armada? Where did you shoot?" He asked her._

_She turned to him, slightly smirking. "You're not looking at the right target father."_

_He looked up and saw another target dummy, significantly farther than the targets they'd been using. The target dummy had a bullet hole in the head._

"_Show off." The youngest smiled,_

"_Armada… I told you to hit that target. This isn't a contest." He crossed his arms._

"_Maybe… but If I can get the shot, shouldn't I take it?" The older man chuckled and patted his daughter's shoulder. _

"_You'd make a great soldier. Hot headed, but good."_

"_Would I make a good soldier, father?" The youngest asked. The blond man turned to his youngest. She held the pistol much like her siblings but the imposing features weren't present. He walked over to the green eyed Shepard put his hand on her shoulder as he did the eldest. _

"_Perhaps." He glanced towards the other two teenagers. "I'll give you the same advice I give to all the recruits."_

_She nodded. "You may want and dream to become a soldier, believe in it so wholeheartedly you may miss where your true potential lies." He paused, as the youngest seemed saddened. "A soldier is an arm of the Alliance, but what of it's heart? Men and women who keep it beating?"_

"_Doctors?"_

"_Amongst some others yes. Doctors." He smiled. "You see Darwyn, you may want to be a soldier but your speciality has yet to be measured."_

"_But you are a soldier. Mom is a soldier. Toren and Mada have been told that they'll be soldiers." She answered slightly left out._

"_And if we all joined jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" _

_The young girl opened her mouth to say something yet changed her mind and closed it. _

"_Your family doesn't determine who you become, we only exist to guide, protect and love."_

"_Yes daddy." She smirked as he kissed her forehead._

_He straitened his back once more. "Ready for another go?" He asked._

"_Yea!" The three replied, smiling._

"_Ready… and Fire!"_

_3 more shots were fired._

/-Present-/

"Commander, it may take a couple days for the hearing to be complete." Miranda stood at the steps of the galaxy map as the Commander leaned on the railings pointlessly staring at the map.

"You're suggesting what exactly?" She asked, emotionless.

"We still have to find Warlord Okeer." She crossed her arms in her _XO_ way. "I suggest that we continue recruiting as we wait for the hearing to begin."

"And if it begins before we return from… where was it? Korlus?"

"Yes Commander." Kelly answered pulling up the information of the dossier.

"Ah yes, Korlus. Thank you Kelly."

"Anytime."

"Commander we have the collectors to worry abou…"

"Miranda… I don't expect you to understand the stress this gives me." She turned to look at her by shifting the weight from one shoulder to another. "If this hearing declares my little sister guilty… I won't see her for a long time, if not ever considering the mission that I am on."

Miranda stayed quiet as the Commander continued. "Or maybe you do understand… but either way, I will be a hazard on the field of Korlus if all my thoughts are focused on Dwyn."

Miranda nodded, she didn't try to reply something clever or _time managing_ related.

"I understand Commander." She inhaled before continuing. "If there's anything that comes up about your sister, I'll be sure to let you know." And on that note she left, disappearing into the elevator.

Armada kept her gaze in the elevator's direction for some time before returning to her galaxy map perusing. Unsure what to think. On any other topic Miranda would have put up a bigger fight.

"Commander, you've received a new message at your private terminal."

Armada pushed herself off the railing and shuffled her way towards the terminal in question. She opened her mail.

[(2) Unread Messages.]

[New Message (1)]

- Opened –  
To: Armada Jane Shepard  
Subject: How long have you been under?  
From: Andolus Rotal

Hey Kid,  
Thought you might pop back onto the radar. Don't want to know how you got back but honestly it's good that you are. I suppose bragging rights are restored for my usage yes? For old time sakes?

Some interesting events have occurred while you were _gone_and I might be able to fill in. Key word: Might. Most of the company's secrets are still property of your dear sister, even though I am aware of their contents I am bound by corporate law to silence myself. I'd rather not have a lawsuit from the do-gooders.

As the acting CEO of S.P.I.T. sources, I grant you the usual family discount, don't be confused if the salesman believes the Great Commander Shepard is classified as _half-turian_. Just put him/her back into his/her place and you won't be bothered, business as usual.

On a separate note, I've pulled some strings for you on behalf on my standing to the turian military. Their councillor might reconsider his standing. It can't hurt his ego much considering the outcome will stay covered. Let's hope he does what is good for his health.

Sparatus owes you his life after all. I'm attempting to restrain you for taking him up on it. If he changes his standing based on the military's decision… you'll still have the pull you need for later. (You'll definitely need it for later…)

We will need to meet. Catch up on lost time. I'd rather you not tell me where you've been. The urge to sell that information will be fairly grand indeed.

Your acting uncle,

Andolus.  
[End]

Armada smiled. She knew she was going to receive a message from Andolus soon. He had been close to the Shepard family for a long time after all.

[New Message (2)]

- Opened –  
To: Armada Jane Shepard  
Subject: Cargo Bay  
From: Garrus

Got some free time. Figured you'd need help down in the Cargo bay. I know you're not doing anything so might as well meet me there.

- G  
[End]

She smiled as she read the message. Garrus was indeed right. _First I got to reply to Andolus_. She thought. She found it cool that both her two favourite turians e-mailed her on a down-day. She looked around for the _reply_ button. A frown starting to form on her face, as she seemed unable to fish it out.

"Kelly?" She called. The yeoman lifted her head and looked towards her Commander.

"Yes Commander?"

"Where's the reply button?"

The yeoman frowned and made her way to the Commander's console. She scrolled up and down the page in the same way Armada had and ended with the same results.

"I'm… not sure." She answered confused. "Most of the terminals have that option yet… not yours."

Armada pouted. "EDI?" she called.

The blue bulb showed up next to the elevator.

"Yes Commander?"

"Where's my reply button?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

"That option has been turned off and is not in my parameters to modify."

"Say what?" She asked the AI. "You live and breathe… well figuratively, in this ship yet you can't access an e-mail options panel?"

"That is correct."

Armada blinked for a couple seconds. "So you're saying that the Illusive Man voluntarily toggled off my reply button and made sure you couldn't activate it?"

"Possibly, It is not guaranteed that the Illusive Man knew about the fault."

Armada grumbled and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe I have to deal with this right now…" She sighed and made her way to the elevators.

"Commander?" Kelly asked.

"Calm down, Kelly. I'm just going in the Cargo bay." She punched in the destination and the doors closed. "Besides it's not like you don't read my e-mails anyway." She mumbled to herself feeling the hum of the elevator go off.

/-Once more in the Cargo Bay-/

"So… what is all this stuff?" Garrus asked as they somehow navigated through the crates.

"Money, gifts, some of my sister's stuff." She shrugged. "I'm pretty sure most of it is junk anyway. I've already asked that the furniture be donated to different charities. There will be no need for that on the SR2."

"We still have to filter through most of it though." He added bringing down a first crate.

"Yes. And then I need to sign your volunteering hours sheet." She smirked as she too brought down a crate and opened it.

"My what?" He asked raising his brow.

She chuckled. "It's a human thing." She looked into the crate. "Seriously? One crate for One port?" She lifted the little information stick and put it in her pocket. _To be filtered later._ She told herself.

"At least mine has credit chits." Garrus smirked, beginning to count it all.

_Well this is going in the: to give away pile._ She thought pushing another crate aside in a specific corner of the bay.

She opened another crate. "Ooh! Pillows!" She smiled. She took the first one out and brought the pillow towards her, covering her whole face. "Its fluffy." She added as she removed it. She looked back into the crate and saw a dozen more. "More for the crew I suppose." _How did I own so many pillows?_

Garrus' voice brought her out of her brainstorm. "Aaand I forwarded the funds to your new account."

"Good to know." She tossed him a pillow.

The pillow flew and hit the turian's fringe. He froze and looked towards the Commander, a brow raised. "Really Commander?"

"What?" She answered smiling innocently.

He sighed and shook his head as he returned to the chits.

/-A couple dozen crates later-/

"Ooh! More palladium!" She lifted her omnitool and scanned it to update the Normandy's systems.

"It seems to be composing most of your inventory." Garrus commented as he too opened up another crate of iridium.

"Maybe the Alliance labelled it: Shepard." She guessed closing the crate and putting it in the minerals pile.

"Or you were hiding it in your basement." He chuckled.

"Ha! My basement was probably _made _out of this stuff." She joked.

She looked around and smiled satisfied. They had gone through the 3 quarters of the crates. They hadn't touched the stuff labelled '_S.P.I. _' or '_Darwyn'_, considering they obviously weren't the owners.

Shepard got up from the ground where she was to pick up another mounted box. As she put her arms around one of them her eyes were averted to another. It was of medium length but had no height per se. Unlike all the other crates this one had no company name, emblem or even electrical identification. All there was on it was a removable label, used by Cerberus employees for filtration, saying '_Omega'_

_Hmmm…_ she wondered.

She gripped the crate from the handles and brought it down to another crate they used as a table. She couldn't see Garrus from where she was… a quick peek won't hurt anyone.

_It's from Omega… so it must be Garrus'… then why is it amongst my stuff._ She opened the operations panel and turned the lock. The crate was airtight so the '_pssshhhht'_ was released from it. It wasn't loud enough to summon Garrus' attention.

Armada looked back up in the general direction Garrus would be in. The honest path would have been asking Garrus if it was his in the first place and avoid all the secrecy but Armada wanted to know what was in it.

There were some protective sheets covering the content and some strange retro foam stuff to keep the contents of the box, whatever it was, safe. She removed the sheet…

Another box.  
"What the…?" She asked herself, raising an eyebrow. She heard Garrus clear his throat to her right.

She turned her head towards the turian. He had his arms crossed in a very turian way, with something that looked like a smirk. "I knew you wouldn't ask." He stated.

She shrugged her shoulders, smirking.

"So it was yours."

"Well… technically it's yours." He answered walking over to her. She raised her eyebrow and moved over, letting him handle the weird box.

Inside the box there was another box with a DNA recognition and an extra lock. Garrus shifted the box to face him. He put his talon inside the detector and it beeped. The electric latch clutched open dryly.

Garrus turned the box back over to Armada. She eyed him suspiciously as his expression stayed blank… unreadable.

She took it from his hands and clicked open the latch. The case opened and what she saw took her breath away…

"I… thought I'd never see this again…" She touched the surface of the faded paint. The bluish grey was exactly the same since she'd last seen it, which was technically 2 years ago.

She was very quiet but her eyes were open wide. She touched the surface of the metal with the tips of her fingers. It hummed to life at the contact of her fingers.

"How did you-" She didn't have to finish.

"Tracked it down to lowlifes on Illium. Thieves took it from the Alliance." He answered, not breaking eye contact. "Don't know how they got it but it didn't matter. Got it back."

Armada's lips curled slightly and relaxed numerous times in a never-ending cycle. "Did you use her?" she asked, picking it out of the box. It hummed and extended, clicking into place, fitting her grip like a glove.

"No. It's your rifle." He answered plainly. "I don't guaranty that they didn't however."

It seemed that all her teeth were exposed as she smiled. The rifle was ready for action after 2 years of inactive handling by a professional.

"Of course, now we have to give it a little more juice. Get it back into the game." Garrus added on a technical point of view.

"She survived the alternation to the thermal clips, she'll be ready in no time." Armada smiled already coming up with multiple ideas for the upgrades, she looked through the scope. "Ooh, there's a finger smudge." She frowned. _Why would that be there?_ She wondered. Then it hit her.

"Is that why you wanted to help me to clear the Cargo bay?" She asked, flashing him a smile.

"In part. One: you had time to kill. Two: who knows what you had hidden down here. Three: I'd think you'd rather have me help you than Cerberus. And four: you need a good distraction."

"You just wanted some one-on-one time with your Commander." She teased, putting the rifle back into the weapon case.

Garrus chuckled. "Well, figured you'd have questions of your own."

"Indeed I do." She picked up the weapon's case in her left hand, holding the handle. "Let's go shoot something." She punched his shoulder. "Or drink something. If you're up for it." She added.

He smirked. "Yes Commander." And he followed her into the elevator.

/-S.P.I.T-/

The red light kept going off. She was glad she muted the AI or else she'd hear "You have received a new message" every time it went off. The turian swirled her chair towards the monitor and accessed the message.

It had a red flag.

"Huh." She didn't usually get that kind of e-mail anymore. She opened the message quickly.

-Email-

**To: Whomever this reaches inside S.P.I.T sources**  
From: A concerned mercenary

Whomever this reaches, my name is Butler, former Eclipse engineer. I have abilities at your disposal if my retrieval is successful.  
-

_Butler?_ She asked herself. _Where does that name come from?_  
She brought up her previous searches and inquiries. Nothing. She forwarded the message to Andolus, he called the shots. Before she could widen her search, another message was sent.

-Email-

**To: [Agent 100G09L]**  
From: A concerned mercenary

I know it reached you, Agent Goal.  
-

Century frowned. This merc wasn't messing around. She brought up her omni tool waiting on Andolus' instructions. Instead, the AI's subtitles read: Message sent. She figured Andolus controlled the messages at his location via her address, it wasn't the first time he'd done so.

-Email-

**To: *previous contact***  
From: [Agent 100G09L]

S.P.I.T may have a use for you. Position?  
-

Century followed the conversation as a third eye, trying to track the sender's location, in case he wouldn't send one.

-Email-

**To: [Agent 100G09L]**  
From: Concerned mercenary

Will S.P.I.T guaranty involvement in future negotiations?  
-

Century smiled. This Butler was paranoid indeed. Guarantying involvement before an assessment of his abilities is desperate indeed. One would need to be skilled to make a deal such as that, or else S.P.I.T would just send him off as a _guard_ for the brokers or something equally as menial.

But considering how quickly Butler was able to track down her agent number and reply under 10 minutes was a clue as to just how skilled he might be… or become.

-Email-

**To: *previous contact***  
From: [Agent 100G09L]

Perhaps. That would depend on you, Butler.

You are a deserter from the Eclipse, disobeyed direct orders, vandalized equipment and tech… the list goes on.

Your motives may be pure but your abilities are the ones in question.

Your very location is problematic. Or maybe you had thought we wouldn't have to means to track your signature. What makes you worth it?  
-

How Andolus knew so much already was beyond her. He was flawless to this game. He'd put the other Illium brokers to shame, save for that Liara T'Soni.

The answer came quickly and plainly. It was a single sentence.

-Email-

**To: [Agent 100G09L]**  
From: concerned mercenary

I stole Reaper tech.  
-

Century's mouth went agape. That would explain the urgency of the situation for Butler. She had no idea what Andolus was going to do. As the acting CEO of S.P.I.T he, and only he, could accept or decline hazardous materials, reaper tech included.

Century rubbed her hands together. She knew they had reaper tech on file already but… bits and pieces here and there may help with the inevitable war.

Andolus' answer came mere seconds later.

-Email-

**To: previous contact**  
From: CEO A. Rotal  
CC: [Agent 100G09L]

Prepare for extraction, Agent.  
-

Century smiled. _Time to suit up._

She called Andolus on her omni tool.

"Boss? Where to?" She asked, smirking.

"You're not the one going Century." He replied, plain.

_What?_ "Pardon me Ando?" She replied, disbelieved.

"We already know of one special operative on site."

_Clever boy._

/-Korlus-/

"So what's a former Eclipse merc doing on Korlus?" Jacob asked as he reloaded his pistol.

Armada casually led the 3-person party forward, towards the gunshots and Jedore's loud obnoxious voice, sniper rifle in hand.

"Honestly? After knowing Rotal for so long, you learn not to ask questions. You just do it." She shrugged her shoulders. "At least I'm doing something other than obsessively check my e-mails for news on the trials."

"Or emptying crates in the cargo bay." Garrus added with a slab of amusement.

"Yes, yes… or that." She smiled. She heard movement behind the wall. She bolted to cover.

"Kill the intruders!" the voice beamed. Mercenaries started emerging out from cover everywhere around them.

"Ambush fail _Jedore_." Armada sighed as she sniped off their heads. Poor Jacob could barely get any shots out after Garrus and Armada were done. At least his biotics got him a couple nuggets.

Once all the targets were down, Garrus turned to Armada. "How are we going to find this deserter?"

"Ando said he'd find us." Armada picked up a thermal clip and handed him one. "Seeing as how things usually turn out, he's probably going to be where Jedore is."

"Figures." Jacob sighed. He cocked his head to the side, stretching out his muscles before the tiny group moved out once more.

Their progress was stable but felt like it took forever to walk up the stairs. Another door that needed bypassing was just another annoyance for Armada to handle. She moved forwards through the base, encountered a couple tank bred Krogan, Blue suns rocketeers, a bunch of already dead bodies. They head up the stairs and even found that Asari scientist from Virmire.

Shepard made it clear that if she'd see her again, she wouldn't be happy. The scientist took off claiming that Shepard would probably blow up the place anyway. Had she not said that, Armada wouldn't have rushed her out of the room before being stopped by her wingmen. The last thing she wanted to be reminded of was the explosion that killed one of her marines.

"It seems we haven't reached our full _paragonical_ self now have we?" Garrus teased.

Armada blew some blond hair out of her face and stubbornly moved on. "I'm no renegade." She pouted lowly, which made the turian snicker.

And finally _the _door that they wanted had been reached. They entered it and saw a _green_ Krogan in a large room with a bunch of computers next to a tank with a very… big krogan specimen inside.

"Here you are! I've watched your progress." A deep krogan voice called out.

_Big Brother?_ She wondered smirking lightly, thinking that her remark was quite clever.

She walked up to him. His head quickly turned towards them as he already started his complaining like any other good Krogan.

"It's about time. The batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercs." He returned his vision to the monitor before him.

"I take it you're Okeer?" Shepard asked approaching the large non-tank bred krogan. "You don't seem too… pleased."

"You claim to be here to help, but the formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change." He turned towards the group. "Surprised? All krogan should know you. I'm sure Rana has already revisited your actions on Virmire."

Armada sighed. "She sure did…"

"But have no ill thoughts. I approve." Okeer walked closer to Shepard. She cursed that she was so tall, it hurt her neck to talk to Krogan sometimes… "Saren's pale horde were not true krogan. Numbers alone are nothing. The mistake of an outsider, one that these mercenaries have also made." He walked back towards his console.

_Ahh! Thank you!_ She thanked internally as she could straighten out her neck once more.

He walked over to the window and raised his hands, it seemed he had a flare for the dramatic. "I gave their leader my rejects for her army." He lowered his hands. "But she grows impatient. It's time for you to take me out of here."

"I'm assuming that you come with… a packaged tank-bred Krogan?" she asked.

He turned towards the tank. "I acquired the knowledge to create one pure soldier. With that I will inflict upon the genophage the greatest insult an enemy can suffer."

_Here we go. Something like defeat or stealing honor. _She thought a bit discouraged.

"To be ignored."

_Oh. _She cleared her throat. "Speaking of enemies, you'll have to give me everything you have on the collectors."

"They are strange. So isolated yet very available when your sacrifice is big enough. I gave them many krogan."

_What…?_  
She glanced towards Garrus and Jacob both. They returned her confused look. At least she wasn't the only one who was starting to think that Okeer was slowly jumping off the bandwagon.

"I may have information for you, but the tech was consumed by my prototype. After I determined how to use it without killing the subjects. Their deaths were unfortunate but I only needed one success to start the process."

_I'll have time to prod him with questions on the Normandy._ She reasoned. "Alright Okeer, Are you going to come on the SR2 or Stay here?" She asked bluntly.

"Perhaps I can strike a deal to secure passage. But my prototype is non negotiable. It is the key to my legacy."

Armada looked at the tank. _Where to stuff you on the ship…._ She wondered.

"Attention!" the intercoms boomed.

"Not that annoying bitch again…" she sighed.

"I have traced the krogan release. Okeer, of course."

Okeer walked over to the window.

"I'm calling 'blank slate' on this project. Gas these Commandoes and start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks."

As if on cue, the ventilation system started releasing white smoke into the room. He turned to his _legacy_. "She's that weak willed? She'll kill my legacy with a damned valve!"

"Or maybe she's just lazy." Armada whispered to Garrus.

"Shepard!" Okeer turned to her, her smirk disappearing instantly. "You want information on the collectors? Stop her. She'll try to access the contaminants in the storage bay."

Shepard could have argued further but the increasing amount of white gas getting released into the room made her walk towards the door without any further questions. Besides her finger was getting trigger-happy at the thought of never hearing Jedore's voice again.

"I will… stay and do what must be done." He ended.

/-/

"Garrus! Finish her off would you!" She barked over the commotion of bullets and explosions.

"Keep pushing! They are weak and-" She was cut off by a sniper bullet piercing through her visor.

"Thank you!" She said relieved as she sent out her drone to finish off the YMIS mech coupled with an overload from the turian and a couple rounds from Jacob.

The field was now officially free of targets.

Armada took one last look around the field. "Now where's that deserter?" She wondered. The other two men couldn't give her an answer before the alarms started going off.

"And now is when the emergency vents start? Please tell me the Normandy's got a better respondance system." Armada sighed, running up the stairs.

"Of course the Normandy is equipped with the best detectors-" EDI started.

"She knows EDI." Garrus cut in.

/-/

Armada sighed. The krogan had no pulse. She replayed the message having missed the first bits.

"_You gave me time Shepard. If I knew why the Collectors wanted humans I would tell you. But everything is in my prototype. My legacy is pure. This… one soldier. This grunt. Perfect." _

"Does that mean he's… letting us adopt the Krogan?" She wondered.

But then a voice answered her question. Someone they didn't even know was there.

"I'm sure he doesn't want his _legacy_ to stay on Korlus wouldn't you think?"

The three of them turned around sharply to have their guns faced towards a lone soldier, dressed in the Sun's blue. He raised his hands to show surrender.

"You the deserter?" Armada asked.

"I suppose you mean that _one eclipse soldier who S.P.I.T request that you collect_?" He removed his helmet. Long brown silky hair came out of it as he whooshed it around. With a hand he removed the hair from his face and…

"Name's Maria by the way." She smiled removing her voice modifier from behind her tooth. "Sorry for the wait."

She had average brown eyes; dark tanned skin, lip-gloss, no eyeliner nor mascara but dirt on her face.

"Why are you dressed and geared as a man?" Armada asked, putting away her weapons, but insisting that her squad stay armed.

"I had to steal one of their member's suits. As for the voice well… to avoid suspicion." She shrugged.

Armada examined the physical state of Maria as quick as she could. No life threatening injuries so far.

"What are you doing on Korlus?"

Maria sighed. "Well, Eclipse won't come here to retrieve me, for one. Two, because it's a garbage dump planet. It's easy to get lost here and await for … rescue."

Armada raised her eyebrow. "Well, I've learnt not to meddle with S.P.I.T business, I'm just the delivery girl." Armada summoned the cab and warned the SR2 of a rather large package…

She knew Miranda wasn't going to like this one bit. And not just about the krogan.


	10. In Secret

A/N: if there are any grammar mistakes, please notify!

Virtuous Bullet: Collected  
In Secret

_Bam. Bam. Bam._

"Would you stop that?" An agitated voice barked.

The girl stubbornly turning towards the C-Sec officer. His gaze was firmly on her. He was just as annoyed as she was. She put the pen back on the table and crumbled back into the chair she had spent the last few days in. She sighed and looked at the damage she made in the ceiling.

She had stabbed the crap quality ceiling with the pen's tip with her biotics multiple times in no specific pattern. Just throwing the pen and catching it before it hit the floor.

"Oh look!" She exclaimed sarcastically raising her arm towards the dots. "A sheep!"

The C-Sec officer rolled his eyes. He knew Darwyn Shepard was often bored in the room they were in, he couldn't blame her if she started becoming a little bit crazed by being confined into the same room for days.

"Do you see the sheep M. Fang?" She asked, relatively lively.

The C-Sec officer leaned over to look at the ceiling too. He didn't know what he was looking at but it definitely wasn't a sheep.

"That's one strange looking sheep." He commented.

She pouted. "You have no imagination, Fang."

He shrugged his shoulders and went back to being bored. Most days were like this.

For the duration of the Council's debates he would stand, or sit, guard next to Darwyn in the cell. For a minimum of 8 hours until a break.

He was assigned that routine until the Council was to come to a decision. Which could be a very long time considering they have other things to attend to.

"So…" He started, breaking the silence. "What made you do it?"

"Pardon?" She asked, raising her head from its usual dangle over the headrest.

"Why did you dent the Council chamber?"

Darwyn blinked a couple times, perplexed.

"How many days have you been keeping that in?" She asked, leaning forward.

Fang had his back straight up against the rest of his chair; his clothes were still orderly and neat, his hair not purposely dishevelled, unlike the detainee.

"Haven't really wondered about it."

She nodded with a sarcastic _uhuh_.  
"Well. It's a simple concept really." She crossed her arms. "They bashed the honour and sanity of a dead woman."

"But she's not dead." Fang replied.

"Then why did we get a funeral? Her accounts wiped, her will exercised…?"

Fang couldn't give an answer to that, he remained quiet.

"Either way, she wasn't there to protect herself from their blasphemies. And I did what any good little sister would do."

"Become a criminal?"

"Do something stupid." She corrected. "I'll admit, I hadn't thought it through… a part from my escape plan. And thank god for Andolus! Else S.P.I.T sources would be run down to the ground by now." She nodded smiling. "I'm glad it's still alive and kicking." Fang was surprised at her honesty. She knew they were probably being monitored yet she stayed honest.

_And all the projects are still underway._ She smirked internally.

"Aren't you a bit young to be the CEO of a major science company?"

"_Medical_ Science." She corrected. "And no. Since I'm not technically the CEO anymore."

Fang crossed his arms in a way that she knew what he meant.

"…Fine. It had started with my name. Get me back into the game. Not to be the Shepard failure." She admitted. "Toren had gotten his partner by then and… I was still… struggling to keep my love for science satisfied." She nodded and took another breath. "Andolus helped me get back on my feet… that's how I learnt of the Tayseri Clinic. They accepted me to study and since then, most of them work for S.P.I.T sources. We pay 'em more to stay and teach than the original owners."

"I heard that _Spit _sources bought the clinic."

She chuckled. "That was Andolus' move. He is a brilliant man." She nodded. "He even mounted construction groups based on biotics in training to clear out the wreckage. They were the ones to clear out Dilinaga Concert Hall from Sovereign's filth."

"The geth ship?"

"Let's not get into that." She warned with a quick glare. She knew they had a difference in opinions as to the origins of Sovereign.

"I know you believe it was a reaper, as your sister said."

"Yes, and I'd rather leave it at that. This subject has only ever brought me frustration and anger." She snapped. She rubbed her forehead. "Sorry." She looked up then towards him. "You didn't deserve that."

"I can't imagine who would." He added sarcastically, which made Darwyn grin. "So… Andolus. When was the last time you saw him?"

"I…" She stopped to think about it, retracing her steps far up the timeline. Not lingering on her thoughts of 2184 at all. "I haven't seen him in a year now that I think about it…" She nodded. "Not since the end of 2183 before I went off the grid."

"That's a long time." Fang sighed.

"And If I get incarcerated, it'll be longer." She added, plain.

Then the silence set down once more.

"How old are you exactly?" He asked out of the blue, truly curious.

She snickered. "Well now! Look at who's nosy!"

/-SR2-/

"S.P.I.T expects you at the Citadel docking bay." Shepard claimed, facing her newest temporary guest on the Normandy. She was seated on one of the conference room chairs.

Maria was only slightly nervous about her present situation, Shepard caught that much. She was able to deduce some events but not all, she wasn't a Sherlock!

"That's good news." She answered, a tad uneasy.

"What is it?" Armada inquired, softer than usual. Her blond brow frowned as her position was put at ease.

"I…" she started but cut herself off. "... Shouldn't talk about it Commander." She nodded her head, as if agreeing with her own statement. "I'm sure you understand."

Armada didn't tense up, but refused that reason.

"No." She took a breath. "I understand as perfectly as I can, but why you _shouldn't_ talk about it is not something I want to hear. After all, we did get you off Korlus."

"You're sounding like you left empty handed." Maria replied.

"We lost the recruit we were supposed to have, ended up with a black hole's worth of possibilities, a deserter that has been accepted into S.P.I.T without clearing why it needs the _Normandy_ to deliver, we have no information on the Collectors and to top it off, I had to deal with more paperwork from the authorities about the usage of an unidentified weapon upgrade I administered in my sniper rifle, so yes. I am almost empty handed and ever so slightly frustrated."

Maria felt the slap of Shepard's annoyance. Every one fell victim to it at some point of their life.

She swallowed the residing saliva in her throat and tried to stay as anonymous as she could.

"I signed up for the Eclipse hoping it would hone my skills to be so precise I could master my class. Not only did it not do that, but then it went after Archangel and his group." She had a tint of anger in her voice. One that Armada could easily pick up. "I'm not suicidal, I got the hell out of dodge!" She crossed her arms, hoping to have made her point. Granted she was always a gifted liar, but she judged wise not to create some bullshit story to the Commander. Settling for the real details would have to suffice. But naturally, Shepard had more questions and prodding.

"What's your class?"

"Engineer. More specifically: the research kind." Armada frowned, Maria sighed. "It's a theoretical practice. For an example: We'd learn how to summon drones; we'd do it once, document it, pass it on and hope for the best."

Armada nodded. "And you were the best at…?"

"Signals." She stated, smirking. "Signals and signal deactivation in emergency situations."

"So like… bombs?" Armada tried.

Maria frowned. _Wasn't she an engineer herself?_

"No Commander, like Mechs. Mechs and radio messages."

_Ah._ She thought, feeling like a dunce. "Never thought of the Alliance?"

"No. Came from a suburban slum back on Earth. Had lots of friends join the Alliance. At the time I didn't want anything to do with them. Now, I don't want those friends that are still enlisted to see me now."

"Pride holding you back?"

"Yes."

"And instead you want to go into the medical business?" Armada knew that Butler wasn't in for the Medical branch, but she was instructed to never reveal the information division. Even to a possible recruit.

Maria wondered why the Commander was asking so many questions but divulged in her curiosity.

"Yes. And SPIT has a good reputation when it comes to … well: employment."

_Well she must have made an impression on Andolus if he accepted her._ Armada thought.  
"What do you know about S.P.I.T?"

"Not much. But I'll know more in time. I'm sure." She lied.

"You haven't heard of the recent shift in leadership?" She tried, trying to catch anything about this woman.

"Yes. With the previous owner about to serve jail time, a new Head was chosen." Maria shrugged her shoulders. "To be honest, my application only becomes complete once they test my competence face to face."

Armada was about to answer before Joker called her on the comms.

"_Commander, the Council wants to talk to you on your big monitor."_

"Big monitor?"

"_Yeah Commander, Kelly said it was in your room. Should I let 'em through or will you indulge me and let me hang up on them?"_

"Joker…" she sighed.

"_Aye aye Commander."_

Armada smirked.

"It seems you are needed elsewhere, Commander." Maria commented.

Armada turned to the deserter and nodded. "Remember, this is where you will be waiting. Unless another crewmember tells you to move, you will stay here. We clear?"

"Crystal." She replied.

/-A couple days of negotiations later-/

The last signature was engraved into the lease. Anderson glanced towards the Turian councillor.

"We've all made deals where we weren't entirely pleased with before, councillor."

He glanced in his direction as the form was formally passed into the Archives of the Presidium tower.

"Indeed Councilor." He replied. "It is… fortunate for the human to have ties to our governments in such a way. Her grip over the situation was firm indeed."

"In this instance Darwyn Malory will no longer be a threat to us. She'll be light-years away." Valern stated, not entirely pleased with the issue's resolution.

"But she'll be in Cerberus hands." The Asari councillor jabbed. "What if they consider recruiting her?"

"They won't." Anderson replied. All three heads turned to him, his own turned to face theirs. "Not after what they did to her father."

"That didn't seem to stop the Commander." The turian commented.

Anderson brought up schematics from his omni tool. Plans, codes, locations, operation information, classified Cerberus intel…. "That's because her allegiance doesn't lie with _Cerberus_."

/-Somewhere on the Citadel-/

"Here you are ma'am. The release forms." The C-sec officer handed over the datapad with all the required information to her. The young, freshly released detainee, happily took the datapad and transferred copies onto her omni tool.

"You will get an escort to your next location away from civilian transport to a C-Sec vehicle heading to the presidium. From this assigned transport another officer will take you to the next checkpoint. As you cross the presidium, 2 officers will be at your side until you reach the docks, where your _caretaker_ will bring you onto the ship." He continued naming all of the conditions like any good turian officer. Being as happy as she was, Darwyn only remembered half of it.

"… and the duration of your sentence will be spent _out_ of the Serpent Nebula. Do you understand?" He asked. Darwyn smirked and nodded. "Good. A C-Sec officer shall be along shortly to…"

"It's alright officer, I can handle that."

Darwyn's eyes flew open and her neck twisted in an almost inhuman way. She saw her elder brother coming into the centre. His brown hair had grown since she'd seen him last. He smiled at her expression.

"Lieutenant Shepard." The officer saluted. "Officer Fang was scheduled to escort-"

"It's alright, officer." Fang answered from behind the desk, entering at that very second. "I delegate my burden to the Investigator's capable hands."

The turian mumbled something incomprehensible and waved towards Toren. "You may proceed."

Fang smiled towards Darwyn and bowed his head slightly as a sign of goodbye. "Bye to you too, Fang." She answered smiling.

Her brother had grabbed her stuff by then and was nudging her out of the room, eager to have a small discussion with her.

"I can't believe you pulled it off, Dwyn…" He exhaled, relieved. "I was convinced I'd never see your sorry face again."

She turned to him with a quick motion. "Well, I've got a couple tricks up my sleeves." She smirked. Toren scofted. "Ando was the one to get you out wasn't he?"

She nodded and checked her omni tool. "Ando amongst others yes."

Toren nodded slowly, then leaning over he tried to read the mail she'd gotten to no avail.

"Some supporters have been… a surprise. Even for me." She looked back towards Toren.

"Listen…. Dwyn. I need to tell you," he started.

"It's good to see you Thorn." The grin she made spread from one ear to the other, made her look goofy. Toren cleared his throat as her words remained completely unexpected and he almost swallowed and breathed at the same time.

He turned his gaze towards her and saw her facial expression… that was all that was needed to release a loud and long laugh.

She followed with a laugh of her own, yet more silent. Less disrupting to the general population.

"When was the last time you called me that?" He snickered.

"Oh… uh…" She looked up to the ceiling, pensive. "Elysium?" She asked herself. Toren nodded as he replied. "That sounds just about right."

She nodded with him, but then smiled broadly.

"What is it?" He asked suspiciously. "What are you thinking about?"

"You weren't briefed on where I was being transferred were you?" He shook his head.

"My instructions, well Fang's instructions, where to bring you to the next checkpoint." He paused. "What is it Darwyn? Where are you going?"

She smirked and shook her head. "Oh, you're in C-Sec. You figure it out." With that, she moved forwards with a little skip in her steps. Toren sighed, he wanted to tell her something serious but he knew she'd make him wait.

_Oh well! She's an information trader. She'll figure it out._ He humoured.

/-/

There she was.

She was definitely bigger in person. It took two years to bring her back the way she was… well not _exactly_ the same.

"Darwyn…" Armada sighed. "Stop looking at me and marvel at my ship already!"

Darwyn snickered. Armada would never know what just went through her mind. She turned towards the SR2 and saw the SR1 but double in size and covered in stamps claiming it as Cerberus property.

Her first thoughts were similar as her inner joke on Armada but she paid more attention to detail. The shutters over the windows of the cockpit, the _Bull_ like front, the size of its Cargo bay doors…

"This thing must've cost a fortune." She finally said. It was hard to choose what she wanted to say first.

"Money, money, money…" Armada sighed. "Coming from my dear artistic sister! I'm disappointed!"

"Artistic?" She frowned. "Since when?"

"Oh don't play that card with me Darwyn. You've always been artsy." She smiled, hugging her sister's shoulder with one of her long arms. "Come. You need to get off the Citadel ASAP."

Darwyn chuckled as Armada practically grabbed her and lifted her off the floor like luggage being hauled into the trunk of a car. "Oi!" she complained.

The Airlock opened with a dry sound and Armada put her sister down. She rearranged her collar and straightened out her shirt. Armada chuckled at that action; Darwyn wasn't usually fussy about her appearance. She'd make little adjustments here and there but that was it.

The Airlock closed behind them. Armada got into her relaxed _at ease_ position and Darwyn, who hadn't gotten onto many specialised ships of late, was wondering what the step was for.

A scanner had passed a few times and when it had completed its task the AI announced. "Welcome aboard Commander. You are free of contaminants."

"Thank you EDI." She replied. Darwyn glanced worriedly towards Armada. _Was that an AI?_ She knew how Armada felt about AIs…

"Welcome to the Normandy SR2, Darwyn Shepard." She also greeted.

Darwyn awkwardly coughed and thanked the voice. The Airlock opened and the Commander led her sister into her revived vessel. At first glance, the ship seemed almost like the Normandy SR1. Dwyn hadn't had much time inside the vessel, next to none really, but the brief moment of her attendance reminded her a bit of SR2. She knew it wasn't the same ship but wondered if it was a good idea that Cerberus make an almost exact, with multiple alterations, copy of the ship that she considered a crypt. She hadn't talked to Armada about it just yet but she knew that she would.

To her immediate left was Joker. His chair was swirled towards his panel as he was prepping the ship for departure. Beside him was a blue bulb.

"Joker." Armada called.

The pilot didn't even bother turning around to reply. "Oh hey Commander! How's our newest passenger doing?"

"The newest passenger is doing quite well thank you." Darwyn replied, with a slight snicker.

"See Commander, this is why I need a mirror. So that I can see behind me without turning my chair."

"I don't see why you can't use our _Enhanced Defence Intelligence_ as a look out, Joker."

"Oh I see what you just did there, Commander. Very clever." He replied, rolling his eyes.

Darwyn let her thoughts known. "Huh?"

The Blue bulb started 'speaking': "She is referring to my platform. I am the Enhanced Defence Intelligence built into the Normandy's systems; the crew refer to me as EDI."

Darwyn nodded. "Gotcha."

Armada tapped Joker's chair. "Pull us out Moreau. We're headed to Purgatory."

"Aye, aye Commander." He answered, punching in the departure _ritual_. "You'll still have to punch it in the Galaxy map, the Illusive man wants to know where we're going or been…"

"Will do Moreau." Armada smiled, turning around on her heels. "But I know you'll get us there if I forget."

The Shepards turned to walk down to the CIC when they overheard Joker grumble, "You say that like I know where that is by heart."

The long hallway down to the CIC was impressive. All of the Cerberus personnel were at their stations around the Normandy's projection or on the outer terminals next to the walkway. The crewmen greeted both of them as they passed, making Darwyn feel like a model walking down the runway with an overly glorified sense.

"Dwyn, that over there is Kelly. She's my yeoman." Armada whispered as she directed her sister's attention to the orange haired woman using the terminal closest to the galaxy map. "She's got a psychological side that one, so don't feel harassed when she _reads_ you."

Darwyn snickered. "Alright. I'll try not to file her for invasion of privacy."

"No, no! Do _that_. Just don't file prodding."

Darwyn laughed rearing her head back. Some of the crew turned to figure what was the big joke but only saw their commander shrugging her shoulders shamelessly addressing her crew, "I guess it's been a while since she'd heard a joke!"

Kelly greeted them both as Armada dragged Darwyn into Mordin's lab.

/-/

"Wait… you performed Gilbert and Sullivan?" Darwyn asked eyes open wide, teeth exposed. Mordin nodded and began, "_I am the very model of a scientist salarian. I've studied species turian, and asari and batarian._" Darwyn's mouth gaped open as Mordin sang. It quickly returned to a smile.

"_I'm quite good at genetics, as a subset of biology, because I am an expert, which I know is a tautology_." Mordin turned around once more and looked up. "_My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian_," He expanded his arms and closed his eye lids as his song came to an end, "_I am the very model of a scientist salarian._"

He cleared his throat and returned towards the two women. Darwyn was still smiling like an idiot, and Armada started clapping.

"That was very good Mordin!" She congratulated, smiling as well.

He smiled, but returned to the subject of before. "As I said, Collector Base will not have art."

/-/

"That was pretty cool. You've got a singing Salarian!" Darwyn whispered as they made their way out of the conference room.

"I suppose the whole crew's got hidden talents." She smiled. The door to the Armoury opened. Shepard couldn't see Jacob where he usually was. "Taylor?" she called out, looking around.

They both heard a short exhale. _"95."_ Armada walked forwards and saw his boots up on the center table. She walked around it. _"96. _Hey Commander_. 97."_

His feet were up on the table, his hands were firmly flat on the ground, he had no shirt, and he was doing push ups… with the ship's artificial gravity adding much more weight on his arms. His back was shiny from the sweat.

"Good to see you're working even when you're not working." She smirked, crossing her arms.

"_98. _Gotta keep_, 99, _top shape Shepard_, 100."_

Armada smirked. "How many are you going to be doing there, Taylor?"

"10 more Commander_. 101." _He panted.

She nodded her head. "As you were, Taylor." She waved.

"_102. _See you Shepard!_ 103"_

On their way out Darwyn whispered, "I'd die after 5 of those."

"Good thing you're not a marine." Armada confessed as they made their way to the elevator.

They made their way down to the second level. As the elevator doors opened they were greeted by a very businesslike woman. She had a white _catsuit_ adorned with the Cerberus shaped hexagon and its logo, knee-high boots and long slim gloves. Her black hair was shiny, her blue eyes icy, her demeanour was averagely cold… but _damn was she gorgeous!_

"Oh, Hello Commander." She greeted, her accent surprised Darwyn. Darwyn had expected something else entirely. She moved her attention to the youngest Shepard. "And to you too, Doctor." There was a kindness in her voice that Darwyn picked up on. Naturally she couldn't make sense of it just yet. Darwyn waited for Armada to introduce this new person… not wanting to be rude in front of this, obviously, key personnel. Even if she was in Cerberus, Darwyn wanted to give off a good first impression. Before Armada could do any introduction what so ever, "I'm Operative Miranda Lawson, Commander Shepard's XO of the Normandy SR2. Cerberus liason."

Albeit she was rubbed the wrong way when she heard _Cerberus _liason, Darwyn nodded and extended her hand in a kind manner. "Good to meet you." Miranda returned the handshake with a slight nod.

"I'm sure we will have time to give you better accommodations during your stay here." She added to the green eyed Shepard.

"Of course." Darwyn replied. Still dulled by her sister's cooperation with Cerberus.

Their meeting was brief but Miranda needed to be elsewhere. They exited the elevator and headed straight for the mess.

It was a large room, with a large table, and a surprisingly small kitchen. There were two people seated at the table, which greeted the Commander and the newest resident as they made their way towards the main battery, greeting the cook on the way.

They walked down the hall of sleeping pods and reached the main gunnery station.

The door opened and they were greeted by a turian with his back towards them.

"Garrus." Armada saluted. The turian glanced over his shoulder, paused whatever he was doing and turned around.

"Commander." He greeted. He turned to Darwyn. "So this is the trouble maker?" He asked with a tint of sarcasm. "You're smaller than they make you seem on the vids."

"Don't let my height fool you, I can pack a hell of a punch."

"Over the years I've learnt not to piss off anyone shorter than me… or any biotic for that matter. That doesn't include mercs."

"Or Krogan." Armada added.

"Or Collectors." He chuckled. "But I'll have help with that one."

Darwyn smiled. She knew a lot about Garrus Vakarian… more than he'd want her to and more than he thinks she does. She knew things about him he himself didn't even know. Time would allow him to realise certain things, she was sure of it.

"So, I hear you got a missile to the face." Darwyn started. "And all you did was slap on some bandages and you're good to go?"

"Pretty much. I've never been complicated. It'll get me some fancy scars someday." He gestured his bandages. "But for now, I'll settle for facial ornaments."

"I'm surprised it's still white." Armada pointed out. "We've been running in the muck for a while now and it hasn't gotten replaced or dirtied."

"Well Armada, Turians are classy creatures." Darwyn snickered. "Clean as clean can get."

"In that case we should get Andolus tested. I don't think he's a turian." Armada replied smiling.

Garrus chuckled, he knew of whom they spoke of. He hasn't met this Andolus but he heard of him many times.

His monitor started beeping, bringing his attention back to it.

"I'll talk to you later Commander. This thing needs to be calibrated properly."

She sighed. "Of course it does." She waved goodbye and the two Shepards took their leave.

/-/

The elevator doors opened, and not a moment later the first Shepard bolted forward out of pure habit with a speed her younger sibling didn't expect. She caught up to the Commander in a couple strides.

"The last stop, my cabin." She smiled as she hit the green round.

Darwyn eagerly looked into the room and as she saw it in its entirety she uttered a couple words of impression.

There was a big fish tank, with no fish but plant life, an armoury outlet, a double bed – which was unfair, a desk with numerous working tools.

She walked forwards past EDI's station and saw the start of what looked like a ship collection. The SR1 placed in the dead center.

Her shelves were empty and her picture frames projected their 2177 family picture, Normandy SR1 crew and the last smaller frame...

"Is that…?" She asked, picking it up.

"Is that you with Garrus?" She smiled, turning towards her sister showing the picture. The Commander chuckled and nodded.

In the shot both soldiers were holding the others opposite shoulder, their arms overlapping each other to do so (Garrus actually seemed to be holding the Commander), sniper rifles holstered, helmets off, armour rather destroyed, Armada's arm pretty beaten up with a bunch of bruises on the face, Garrus mainly unscathed. They stood on what looked like ship rubble… or wreckage.

Darwyn smiled when she recognized the background. The trees with pink flowers and biggest window ever seen in the back were a clear indication of the Citadel Tower.

"Are you standing on Sovereign?" She asked, with a hearty laugh in the undertone.

Armada walked over to her sister and took the picture from her hands. A warm smirk painted on her face.

"Yes it is." She looked at her sister's green eyes and directed Darwyn's attention to a blob on the top left of the picture. "You see that? That's Wrex's finger, he couldn't figure out the camera application on his omni tool."

Darwyn chuckled. "It's ironic."

Armada raised her eyebrow wondering what her sister's trail of thought brought her to. "What's ironic?" she asked.

"This picture. Look at your face compared to Garrus' back in the day. And now, look at yours and then his." Darwyn shrugged. "It's like an exchange in battery wounds."

"Yes, but I think he actually likes having scars." Armada replied putting the picture down.

Darwyn crossed her arms and leaned back.

"Ha! I bet it hurt like a bit-" The door to the bathroom opened. Darwyn almost lost her balance as the _wall_ she leaned on suddenly disappeared behind her. Armada, as good hearted she may be, didn't even try to hold back her thundering laugh as Darwyn recovered from her boost of adrenaline. She clutched to her chest breathing heavily, recovering.

"You could have told me!" She panted, eyes wide.

The blond Commander tried very hard to stop the tears from swelling into her eyesight, she might need it soon.

"I couldn't resist!" She wheezed, holding her aching abdomen. Although Dwyn should have been somewhat mad, to see her sister laughing so hard once again seemed to counter her frustration. Instead she stayed quiet trying to examine the rest of the room, failing to ignore her sister's snickering.

"So … where do I sleep?" Darwyn asked, smiling.

Armada succeeded in repressing her laughter, regaining some of her composure. "For the first night, Dee, you'll be sharing mine. It is a double after all. Or is it a Queen? I'm not sure. Tomorrow we'll have a bun in crew's quarters ready for you." Armada made her way to her couch and plopped on it like a numb limb. Darwyn walked over to the other side of the table, arms crossed.

"So… I'm back in the scouts aren't I?" She snickered. "Better than a cell anyways."

Armada froze, her eyes darted into her sibling's. Darwyn seemed… indifferent to the sentence. Indifferent to the consequences. _What happened… what happened to you Dwynnie?_

"Quite." She replied.

Darwyn caught on to Armada's self-reflection but only for a moment. "Do you have any questions about the SR2?"

_Something is wrong. That sounded like a business conclusion. _Darwyn pushed her remark aside… she had developed a habit of doing so lately. No doubt Armada knew Darwyn had changed… _In time you will know why sister. Although, I do not believe you are strong enough yet._ "None so far." The corners of her lips curved. "Why so serious Mada?"

_Oh you don't want me to answer that._ "Why so juvenile Dwynnie? You want to return to the scouts after all? If I remember correctly you fought mom with fists and foot to remain unsubscribed."

Darwyn recovered her true smile for a brief moment. Before she could reply, Armada jabbed again. "Who's serious now?"

There was a moment of silence between the two.

"Commander?" Joker asked, uneasy over the comm.

"Yes Joker?" she answered not losing eye contact.

"We've reached the system and are approaching the prison ship."

She got up from the couch, still in eye lock. "Understood. I'll be right there."

Darwyn felt strange being on the receiving side of the glare they were known for. It was a glare, never ending, that made you test your resolve and gut. The longer you stare, the more lost you seem to become. Darwyn had been on the receiving end of Anderson's glare but she never fell victim to that of her own family's. The green pupils ripped away from the ice pair looking away in the distance of the cabin and into the mural of model ships.

"Whom do I report to… Commander?" She almost hissed, stubborn from her silent defeat, her eyes briefly connected with the Lazarus success then returned to the model show.

"Doctor Chakwas offered to take you, I'd suggest that you act on that. She is a good woman, good _Alliance_ woman." Shepard broke the glare and walked towards the armour outlet on her wall. Her stance seemed cold, collected.

"I believe in your capabilities, Doctor, but Chakwas will still need to evaluate what you can do."

Darwyn hadn't moved from her spot, eyes still to her right.

"Is that all Commander?" It was easier to call her Commander without having to face her full on. She hated how her tittle claimed _Shepard_ for itself… One mention of Shepard and it was immediately associated.

"No. That is all."

Darwyn didn't want to fool herself but… it sounded softer than before. Armada may act like a hard ass or a renegade but… she wasn't fooling her crew. She'd only ever been a paragon. Everyone gets mad, it was relatable.

Without further delay Darwyn left the cabin. As she reached the door she heard the last words she'd hear for the day.

"I'm impressed. You didn't ask about your uniform."

Darwyn thought she was able to repress her snicker, but she knew she failed.

/-/

"There it is. Purgatory."

Armada leaned in over the pilot's shoulder. She observed the ship from the cockpit's _windshield_, its strange shape didn't remind her of a military establishment. Too many weak spots in the infrastructure to be worthy of space fight.

"EDI?" She called out. "What can you tell me of Purgatory?"

"Owned by the notorious Blue Suns mercenary company, the Purgatory was once an 'ark ship' used to hold agricultural animals. Now it is used to hold prisoners, whether taken in battle or sold by unscrupulous politicians under the name of subcontracting and outsourcing. Rumours abound that the Blue Suns turn skilled or fit prisoners over to batarian slavers, but few have ever seen the transaction and lived to tell about it. Its population is listed at 4'350, but independent journalists estimate it is nearly three times that in periods of overcrowding."

"An ark ship? That'll explain it then." She crossed her arms over her N7 armour. _The only way to hold so many criminals in a confined place would be… induced sleep? No, Cryo._

"Blue Suns huh." Garrus sighed from behind her. "I wonder if they have any Gunships this time."

"The probabilities of the presence of a gunship are very unlikely." Miranda deduced while going over the verification of her small machine gun. "Mechs however." She cocked the gun and strapped it back to its holster.

Armada glanced towards the planet Purgatory was orbiting around. "And what's that planet there?"

EDI responded almost instantly. "Erinle. Would you like to know more about it?"

"Proceed." Armada nodded.

"Erinle is a garden world in its last stages of habitability. While its soil still supports agriculture, its animal biodiversity has fallen to record lows, and the most successful remaining life is toxic blue-green algae and insect-like pest species. A large salarian colony is trying to restore biodiversity to the planet, but setbacks are a fact of life. Mineral and fuel mining remains lucrative, however, and Erinle has a thriving spaceport that refuels many ships passing into the Terminus Systems." She paused. "Commander, I detect a reasonable amount of element zero and platinum deposits. Would you like to start scanning now?"

"Not now EDI. Let's get started."


	11. Mom

A/N: if there are any grammar mistakes, please notify! Thank you! Sorry for the delay! Got off the grid.

Virtuous Bullet: Collected  
Mom

"We work by the notion that governments don't want these criminals freed. And we don't want them to escape. Keep the criminals in space and the galaxy is a safer place."

Armada glanced towards the big windows looking at the numerous amounts of cellblocks they'd have.

"Well, that's got a certain ring to it." She replied, not taking her eyes off of the window.

There was no reply from the Warden.

_What a stiff guy._ She thought. She glanced in Garrus' direction. _And Joker says you have a pole up your ass._ She smiled internally, repressing her trail of thought.

Warden Kurril continued on about his fine establishment and directed the squad towards out-processing, down the hall.

Armada wasn't too glad to see prisoners getting beaten by the guards, with one glance Garrus was permitted to deal with it. The turian guard inquired as to why Shepard wasn't doing the job of telling him herself, trying to ease his way out.

"Because she's being kind." Garrus replied with a certain appeal that made Shepard look renegade. "Stop beating the prisoner" he glared.

The turian waited a couple moments then called off his friend for the time being.

As they walked away, Armada smiled towards Garrus. "_She's being nice_. And this is how my vicious reputation came to life."

"It's all an illusion. We all know you wouldn't hurt the guard."

"I talked Saren to death didn't I?" She replied, smugly. "You were there Vakarian, you can't say you weren't impressed." She glanced towards the scientist near the door.

"Out processing is at the end of the room, Commander." He announced.

She nodded and Garrus carried on.

"Impressed? Yes. Surprised you didn't shoot him _yourself_? Hardly."

"Meh. What can I say? I'm just that kind –" Shepard stopped before the out-processing chamber. "… hearted…"

_Steer Clear_ was written right in front of it.

She turned her gaze towards the scientist at the door; he hurried out of the room rather too quickly. She frowned. "Hey Garrus…" she turned around slowly towards the exit of the room trusting the clear warning flags flaring up. "You've had experience with Blue suns… what are the chances they'd disobey Cerberus directly?" Out came Kix, Miranda and Garrus followed, unquestioning.

"Very likely" he replied.

Kurril's voice came over the comms,

"I'm sorry Shepard. But you're worth more as a prisoner than a costumer. Get into the pod."

Aramda dashed into cover, which was a poorly covering desk. "You'll have to catch me first Warden."

"Think you can pull a Saren through the comms?" Garrus whispered as the party darted to cover.

"I'd rather not risk it. I want to shoot this _back stabbing _Sun myself."

"Commander this would have contributed to your _vicious reputation_."

"I know Lawson." She sighed, sighting incoming FENRIS dogs entering the room. "I know."

/-SR2-/

The Medbay's doors beeped; as it didn't recognize the crew ID it was presented.

"Oh come on you undecided piece of Cerberus cra-," Darwyn began but silenced her rant as she received a couple side-glances from the surrounding crewmembers. She cleared her throat and knocked on the door, hoping she wouldn't have to wave her hands like a moron to get Chakwas' attention through the window.

To her great satisfaction the door unlocked and Dwyn made her way inside.

Her new boss, the infamous Doctor Chakwas, was seated at her appointed desk, back towards her. Darwyn assumed that Chakwas preferred the Alliance protocols to Cerberus' so took her military stance next to the door.

"Doctor," She kept her hands tucked behind her back and her legs glued to each other. Chakwas turned towards the youngest Shepard and smirked.

"You'll need to put that hair up." She smirked, getting a hair tie from the desk. Darwyn caught it with a wide grin.

"Nothing to say about the lab coat have you?" Darwyn chuckled tying her blond hair.

Over her typical scientist uniform, Darwyn had put her S.P.I.T research vest. It had a petticoat style going on with rolled sleeves. It ended to her knees with the company name going down the side. It had far more pockets than Darwyn would dare use.

It was the colours of the sources: black and red. The stripe somewhat imitating the N7 line. And its stripe design seemed 'strangely' similar to the N7 stripe worn by those elites.

"What coat?" Chakwas smiled getting up, handing over Darwyn's first batch of paperwork. Gaining a couple gratitude points in the eyes of her new assistant doctor.

/-Purgatory-/

"I have a ship, and I'm offering to take you with me and you're arguing?" Armada asked, incredulous.

Jack stood before them. She was around Darwyn's height, making Armada a tower in comparison. She was covered in tattoos and would need some sort of military plate to protect her chest if she was supposed to fight with them on missions.

"Make it worth my while. I want access."

"What kind of access?" Armada figured she'd work tat attitude a bit, cooperation wasn't going to be easy peasy at this point.

"Cerberus access."

Miranda flinched as Armada granted her request.

"Then why the fuck are we standing here for?" Jack replied.

Armada shrugged and followed Jack into the ship. "Commander? A word once we've boarded."

"Sure." She replied as the airlock closed behind them.

EDI's voice came overhead, "Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere."

"Shepard…. You overrode the protocols again?" Miranda sighed.

"What? I got bored… for far too long."

Garrus chuckled, "Cerberus doesn't have experience dealing with Engineers it seems."

"Not the bored ones." Miranda replied with a smirk, making Shepard repress a snicker.

/-/

Darwyn was seated at her new 'desk', improvised surface behind Chakwas, when her pager went off. Like the rest of the crew, she now had a pager that she had to keep on her person everywhere in the event of contact. She wanted to tweak the ringer song but she had to get started on her work first.

She picked it up and put it in her ear.

"Yeah." She answered.

"_New crewmember incoming."_

Darwyn chuckled as she instantly recognized the purposely-deepened voice in her ear.

"You do realize that we don't get to see the newest member right? Unless they come down here for a medical check up," she replied, getting a glance from Chakwas – who knew exactly who had contacted her newest assistant.

"_Just giving you a fair warning. She surprised the crap out of me up here."_

"Why? Is Joker nervous?" Chakwas rolled her eyes with a large smirk, trying to guess what Joker's replies where.

"_They said this new one would be different but she looks like she's ready to punch a hole through the hull."_

"Oooooh! I'm guessing she's a biotic."

"_It's hard to tell with all the tattoos."_

"Does she have a murderous glare?"

"Didn't I just say that she looks like she wants to _punch a vacuum hole in the ship_?"

Darwyn nodded, "Biotic it is." Chakwas took a glance to check up on Darwyn's process and noticed that she didn't do much since she started talking with Joker.

"Jeff," she started, "my assistant needs to return to _silent_ work." Chakwas chipped in from her own pager.

"_Oh Doctor you're just jealous it's a one sided conversation." _She heard in her earpiece.

"Jeff…" she added once more.

"_Yeah yeah, I got you doc. Joker out."_

And the line went dead.

Chakwas stretched her arms above her head and leaned over to see Darwyn's progress.

"Darwyn Shepard, surveillance of the Normandy's cameras isn't part of our job description."

Darwyn turned towards the doctor with wide eyes. "But Doctor! Did you see her tattoos!"

/-C-Sec headquarters, well one of them-/

"Alright gather round." Bailey commanded to his officers.

All of the Zakaera Ward C-Sec officers and Investigators, whom Toren and Alleris belonged, made their way to the seats in front of their Captain. Every ward Investigator was called for the meeting as this one was coming from the top, a very wealthy top.

There was chatter as all of the officers sat down to listen in a natural separation of job titles.

"I've called you all because we have an issue. We've all heard about the disappearing human colonists in the Terminus systems but now, it seems, it's become _our_ problem."

A couple heads nodded to this as part of their own families were present on Freedom's Progress.

"Many _interested parties_ have donated large sums of credits to insure a minimum of three, two officers and investigator, to make it to other colonies and report back to C-Sec about what they could find." Bailey scratched behind his head. "I don't expect any of you to find anything out there but these funds contribute to our weaponry cases."

"Why C-Sec? Can't they just tip the Alliance?" Someone asked from the crowd.

"Maybe this _donor_ doesn't want the Alliance involved." Someone else replied.

"And why not? It's their job to protect the terminus colonies." A turian answered.

Bailey raised his voice. "I don't care why they asked us. I need volunteers so that we can all get back to work and catch the counterfeiters we were following for months now."

There was a moment of silence before Toren got up. "I volunteer as the investigator joining this mission."

Bailey wasn't surprised but was pleased to see someone take initiative amongst the babble of C-Sec whiners. He was doubly pleased to see Toren, the fabled sharpshooter, stand up first.

"And I as an officer." Fang raised from his seat much like Toren did

A third officer took the mantle and Bailey called them over for a debriefing.

Before Toren got to Bailey, he felt the eye of Rheault follow him through the sea of navy blue uniforms. It was an unmistakable gaze, as he knew there was more to this mission than Bailey let on, or maybe he didn't even know the other side of the plate.

He looked up to find her but was not successful. Instead he caught the eye of his partner. There was a certain worry in her eyes that she'd wished he'd never identify. But that was one of the best things about Alleris Plaice: she tries to be stronger for the whole of them but Toren knew that would ruin her one day.

"Alright. This donor really wants information from a certain colony. I appreciate all of you volunteering, it makes my job easier." Bailey looked over to Toren then to the other two.

"Your job is rather simple: show up to this colony and keep an eye out for a specific colonist… or rather _person_."

"We don't know who we're looking out for do we?" Toren asked, understanding Bailey's hesitation.

"Ya, the donor apparently won't tell us until everyone's deployed." Bailey grumbled a couple inappropriate curses before continuing. "He told us the colony at least."

Toren crossed his arms as Fang inquired, "Which is it?"

Bailey looked straight into Fang's eyes, "Horizon."

/-/

She walks back to her desk in haste. Others notice her rush and wonder what the head of the Directorate could be worried about now, considering there was always something on the mind of the lethal Ms. Rheault, of which no one knew the first name of (some called her Zipper though.)

She didn't care because this was much bigger than what most thought. If S.P.I.T's information was correct, Toren, Fang and Baldersons stood in the face of danger. She opened her terminal and went straight to the priority line. She daren't touch the emergency line because it was reserved for Reaper related activities.

"Boss, C-Sec are getting deployed to donor colony. Thorn + Fang + Sierra volunteered. R.R" She sent the short message instantly with a little red flag over the mail recipient.

Not a minute passed by when a reply came. "Apollo's 2 Hrs."

Rheault's mouth went dry. Only emergency topics received this attention. Another message came in. "come casual." She smirked. She was going to meet the head of the information branch for the first time in her very long life.

She looked the message over again. c_ome_ _casual_. It was surely a turian. Turians had the common mistake of never capitalising the first letter in certain short sentences.

/-SR2-/

"So doc? How she holding up?" Armada asked as Doctor Chakwas and herself went to get some time off walking around the SR2 and settling into the Crew Quarters.

"She's surprisingly easy to work with. However it shows when she works that a lot has happened to her during the past few years. Those events might be anything ranging from the lead of her company to your death." Chakwas took a pause and sighed, "It's hard to say."

"She seems… closed off. More so than before."

"People change Commander."

Armada nodded. Kelly may have the psychology degree but as far as she was concerned: Chakwas was her mind reader. Chakwas was her professional mother.

"Still… sometimes I swear she's hiding something big from me. She acts like she's got some huge secret and doesn't want me to worry."

"Don't we all?" Chakwas replied, with a hint of sadness. "You already have enough on your plate Shepard. Perhaps she doesn't want you to worry for the sake of the mission."

Armada chuckled, "Now that wouldn't be like her at all!"

Chakwas smirked "Besides," She added, reeling them back onto subject, "it wouldn't hurt to ask her how the past years have gone."

"I think one heartfelt discussion is enough for one day." Armada replied, recalling her previous conversation with her sister and how icy it became after mention of her sentence.

"Already? Is it like that with your brother?"

Armada leaned back in her chair and looked down at her hands. "No. Darwyn has always wanted to counter the norm of the family. If Toren and I say yes, she feels the absolute need to say no. If we join the military, she fights till blood is shed to stay out. The list is unending."

Armada sighed and looked up. "But it's also a contradiction. She dyes her hair blond to match the rest of us. She demands the same demeanour that we do. She has our horrible sense of musical coordination… She's a Shepard through and through yet… she insists on being different."

Chakwas nodded, understanding where Armada came from. "Does she get along with your mother?"

Armada gave Chakwas a crap load of credit; she didn't think the old doctor would remember that.

/-Past-/

"_How are you feeling today Commander?" Chakwas asked, dabbing Armada's brow from the stitches they put in after her awkward fall from the beacon on Eden Prime._

_Armada didn't even wince when she felt the sting of the disinfectant._

"_Better. My brain still feels scrambled though."_

_Chakwas' concentrated eyes focused fully on her brow. Her injury would leave a scar and the Doc knew that the commander knew that very well already, having earned collection of scars over the years._

"_Not enough to distract you on missions I hope." She returned for the bottle with the alcohol lotion and applied it to the swab carefully, Armada following her every action._

"_Not hardly enough." Armada smirked._

_There was a silence between them as Chakwas finished her cleaning. She hesitated but then asked plainly, "May I ask a personal question Commander?"_

_Armada smiled, "I ask you personal questions all the time Doctor. Go ahead."_

_Chakwas sighed, "You don't get along with your mother do you?"_

_The question had taken Armada off guard. She wondered what gave her that impression. Was she talking about her mother while she was sleeping? Did she overhear her mention anything of the sort… no she didn't bring up her mother at all on the SR1._

"_What makes you think that doctor?" she asked, more curious at her trail of thought._

"_Certain soldiers react a certain way when they are injured." She began, "When it is urgent, they usually call a loved one or they pray – depends on the beliefs. A mother is what transfers love and nurturing to a child, or they are supposed to at any rate." She returned to the wound with a fresh swab, applying creams made of omni gel. "The father, in a typical situation, gives the right amount of manliness to his children and the right amount of arrogance or modesty." _

_Armada couldn't see what she was getting at._

"_So you see, Commander. I ask if you got along with your mother because the first name you uttered was 'Darwyn'. Your youngest sibling."_

"_And that gave me away how Doctor?"_

"_If you would have gotten along with your mother your first thought wouldn't have been of a sibling that is currently in perfect safety – and an adult, because you are worried that she wouldn't grow properly."_

_Chakwas dabbed the wound again examining Shepard's reaction time to the numbing cream._

"_Am I close?" She asked, with a smirk._

_Armada stayed quiet for a couple moments, "Not for those reasons but uh… No. I don't get along with my mother." The commander smirked. "It seems it takes one to know one."_

_Chakwas grinned, she was caught._

/-Present-/

"Yes. She does." Armada looked down at her closed fists. "She gets so well with _Mother_ that she wants to be more like us." She shook her head. "I'm the only child that can't seem to get along with my mother. Maybe it's because I'm the eldest." She shrugged.

Chakwas sighed as their conversation moved on to a different topic. "Darwyn wants to be like a Shepard but maybe she wants to be different because the _Shepard_ name has been labelled."

Armada rose her eyebrow, "Really? What does this have to do with my mother?"

Chakwas smirked, "That was just me being nosy."

Armada burst out laughing. "Taking advantage of me Doctor?

"As usual." She smiled.


	12. Starlounge

A/N: if there are any grammar mistakes, please notify! Thank you! Sorry for the delay! Got off the grid. Again…

Virtuous Bullet: Collected

Starlounge

Andolus crossed his arms as the shuttle shook. It was strange to think that a shuttle could shake in zero gravity but he didn't think too much of it. He needed to check up on the Maiden.

All the people in the shuttle would never know his name. Nor would they ever see the Maiden, if they were fortunate enough.

He knew the day were the Maiden would be used was coming. They all knew. No one at SPIT doubted it for one second.

When Darwyn first started SPIT she wanted three things. Three distinct things to accomplish diverse goals.

One, the Maiden. A project that would remain in utter secrecy until her deploy. Hoping she'd be complete in time.

Two, a secret network. She knew power came from what someone knew. The Shadow Broker being somewhat of an inspiration in this goal. SPIT would have it's own series of agents and minimal collaboration with the Broker, as well as a pull in every organization as possible. Century has proven this point quite useful.

Three, a second base of operations, a goal that had augmented to three. One on Illium, on the Citadel and the third, the unknown one of the bunch, on Tiptree. The proximity to Surkesh was ideal.

Andolus stood by her until she delegated her position to him. He knew of all the plans and aspirations, he even shared them. There was no other candidate for the position. To the exception of Century of course, but she never wanted the spot.

The secret division of SPIT was composed of a handful of agents. It rarely had any newcomers. Maria Butler being the newest for some time.

The agents go by a codename, one that Andolus chose for each.

Blue, Ryan, Canine, Millennia, Drill, Penny, Whisper, Goal, Titanium, Brick, Boombox and a couple more who occasionally report something interesting. The agents who took the SPIT job as full time were called Watchers, the ones who did it on the side were called nodes. The more notable Watchers were Goal, Brick, Drill and Boombox.

Andolus answered to Boss - simple and easy.

Out of them all Andolus knew he couldn't trust anyone more than Goal and Drill. The both of them were born for sneaking around. Andolus had adopted Goal into his family when he first met her. A lone bareface turian chid alone in the slums of Palaven is one sure way of getting destroyed. He had gained her trust until she eventually followed him everywhere to sleeping near his home and even stealing some of his food. She was sneaky and independent. It didn't take long before she started using his name as her own.

Goal was a natural but Drill was a professional. He was sneaky and agile. Quiet and yet relatively sociable. He was another breed of agent but then again, the one they used to call 'Flu' raised him. Andolus thought it was hilarious to call Hano'Rassan vas Drellio 'Flu'. Of course Hano never understood the irony.

Cerberus killed Hano early into 2184. It drove Drill mad, he was still mad. Hano died preventing the Maiden's location to reach the Broker and Cerberus alike.

It was a sad day and one of many sacrifices that will come.

"Arriving at Transfer Station Three." The comms announced. All the civilians got up to prepare for the exit doors to open to then leave in a herd much like that of cattle.

Andolus took his time. The Maiden wasn't going anywhere.

His omnitool flared up. It was a call.

"Caller?" He asked his omnitool, the answer went straight his earpiece.

"_Kal_." It answered.

Andolus frowned. It wasn't everyday one of the agents called him using their personal name.

He answered the call. "Go." He said.

"_Rotal. We have a mole_."

Andolus stopped in his steps, surprising passengers behind him but they swiftly avoided him in the mob.

"Where did you get this data?" He demanded.

"_I shared intel with the agents, nodes and watchers alike_." There was a pause from the other side of the line. "_Captured an agent selling the same intel. Word for word_."

Andolus rubbed his fringe roughly. This wasn't good. They were small enough to pin point _who_ the mole was but small enough for the leak to cause serious damage if dealt with improperly.

"Where was this agent from? The Broker?"

Andolus needed to know everything that he could before he set his best agents loose. Kal being one of them.

"_No._" Kal replied. "_Cerberus_."

Andolus felt his knees clench. Anger filled him up again. An old anger that he knew would truly never leave. An anger that he was barely able to suppress in Armada's company once he learnt of her involvement. After what they did to Hano…

"Find the mole." He ordered severely. "Don't let it get away."

"_On it_." And the line went dead.

Andolus stood there for a long while looking down at his arm, still glowing.

He received a dozen messages from his agents but he didn't move.

"Hey yo, Ando."

He looked up and saw his 'daughter' watching him, slightly confused.

"You coming or what?" She coaxed.

Andolus snapped out of his daze and looked in front of him. Century had her SPIT black and red armour, that matched his own, and stood there without her guards. She had her eyebrow raised and her arms crossed.

"Yes." He answered as he walked on.

/-/

It was a typical day in the Presidium. Low crime rate, lots of wandering dignitaries, half a dozen flyers for the consort, a couple people knowing his name and saluted him as usual.

Toren smiled and waved. After his shifts in Zakera he always took a walk in the Presidium. He was a creature of habit and when things didn't go along with his usual routine he took a walk. He was rather simple that way.

To his left was a woman he saw daily, a batarian woman whom he met on duty. Her husband, well the batarian equivalent, was claiming that she was insane and should be put away. She hadn't even said a word in her defense; instead she tried to claw his eyes out. Toren and Alleris had to intervene and through the investigation found out that she had a lot of money to her name and could in fact, not talk at all. She was a mute. Her husband ended up in jail for smuggling and other charges.

"Hello Ms. Ahkern." He greeted with a smile.

She nodded and continued feeding the strange birds that roamed the Citadel. Indifferent to the daily walks of the human.

Ms. Ahkern was a kind woman. Well as kind as they come in the shape of a batarian.

Toren kept walking while supporting the glances of by passers examining his C-Se investigator uniform. He didn't have a typical C-Sec officer uniform; he was an investigator not a regular employee. An investigator's duty was to find leads and, if under extreme circumstances, investigators are authorized to defend themselves with gunfire. They have medium to heavy armor depending on their training style and passing skills.

Not very many investigators walk around in the streets with their uniforms on in the Presidium. Most of their business is restricted to the Wards, lately the Tayseri ward.

He went upstairs into the embassy lounge where the important fellows have their afternoon tea. The door automatically opened before him and he looked around before entering.

He spotted a free seat in front of the window overlooking the Krogan statue; no one usually sat there for that reason.

He sat down and put his monitor on the table. He opened it and hummed the same activation chime. He brought up the extranet and went through his e-mail while he waited.

He opened the server when the waitress came by.

"What can I get you Thorne?" She smiled, hand on her hip.

"Get me some of that blue stuff the salarian next to the entrance has, please."

She smirked and replied over enthusiastically. "No problem!"

He smiled and returned to his monitor. He scrolled to his messages.

Bailey had sent the mission's debrief and meeting point on various shuttle drives on the way to the colony. Toren had no intention of getting to those shuttles as he noticed Arcturus in the list of destinations. His mind wandered to more personal things residing on Arcturus, but then the sound of sharp heels hitting the floor incoming on his position was his cue to return to his usual mind. He switched the site he was on to the Extranet Dating Hub.

The waitress came back with his drink and put it down in front of him giving him a great view of her cleavage. "Here you are." She saw his open monitor and Toren's childish grin. "Since when did you have a membership?" She wondered, strongly hinting that, she too, had been a member.

Toren shrugged his shoulders. Not bothering with any vocal reply.

She sighed. "I don't know why you bother with those sites. Wouldn't you rather have the presence of a real body?"

Toren looked up to see her exaggerated exhibition of boobs. He wouldn't deny he had a thing for asari but this one was making it way too easy. No thrill of the hunt.

"I won't deny you're good looks but," he brought up a picture of Alleris he had handy, "there are only two ladies in my life right now, one of which is virtual. Even there, I'm not even sure she's indeed a _she_."

The waitress sighed and left rather disappointed. This C-Sec guy was really hot with his messy dirty blond hair and his gorgeous blue eyes. But he clearly wasn't into her as much as she was to him.

"Why do I even bother...?" She asked herself walking away.

He liked teasing everyone; his favourite victim was his dear partner that he always used to pick up girls. He used her for recent break up scenarios, cheating...

"Toren." someone called from the entrance of the café. His head bolted up as the familiar voice of his dear old buddy Shao Lu, the Asian sniper, reached his ears.

Toren got up and held out his hand to greet him.

Shao was medium height, black hair, squinted eyes, very quiet - hence why he was so easily able to opt the sniper training - and had one good memory.

Shao shook Toren's hand, as was customary. Toren's smile was goofy when you compared the calm and composed Alliance N5 and the C-Sec officer.

"You asked that we meet?" He inquired before Toren could start idle talk.

Toren sat down and answered. "Yes. C-Sec is branching out. Sending out the troops."

Shao sat across from him, listening intently. His comrade, the man who saved his ass on Elysium, had proven himself to be reliable in both the Alliance and C-Sec.

Toren continued. "They're sending three of us to a colony called Horizon. Never heard of it before, pretty low key."

"The Alliance is already on that planet."

Toren's brow lifted. "Are they?" He inquired.

Shao nodded with his usual straight face. "They sent a handful of soldiers there to install big guns. They do not know what is happening to the colonies. It is all speculation."

"I see." Toren crossed his arms. "It seems no one does." He thought for a moment, pensive. "Perhaps I will discover more once I am there."

Shao remained blank. Not reassuring.

"How's your training going, by the way?" Toren asked as he noticed a few new scabs and scratches on Shao's person. "Last time I saw you, you were starting the N1 course."

"Progressing." He replied. "The N6 program is proving to be difficult for one of my specialty."

Toren scoffed. "And this is coming from you? Regretting infiltrator already?"

Shao shook his head. "No." He replied. "Only the selection program." He looked around and leaned in "Not a very good team this year."

"I hear you." Toren smiled. "I should let you go. I'll contact you if I find anything." Toren held out his hand to Shao.

The sniper shook it strongly. "I hope we meet again. The colonies aren't the safest of places right now."

"When have I really been _anywhere_ safe?" He smirked.

Shao shot a small smile, got up and left out the door.

Toren smiled. He hoped the colony would have extranet access, or that he would have time to use it to keep in contact with Shao. He had many Alliance friends but Shao was his favourite, for no apparent or specific reason.

He drank the rest of his drink, quickly realizing there was alcohol in it.

He tipped the waitress and he packed up. He heard her try to flirt with him again but Toren really didn't have much care for it. He needed to get home and notify his family of where he was going.

He reached the elevator for the Tayseri ward section quickly and waited inside for the shuttle to pick up as many citizens as it could before the VI would ship them out. He sat in the far side seat and took out his Omnitool.

He didn't have to wait long before the shuttle left the station with a half load. He got to his stop and exited as he did every day.

He unlocked his door and walked in. He looked around his apartment. It was a boring place. It always was. A three room apartment, white walls, no colour. A boring place indeed.

He walked over to his desk, set up his mobile monitor once more. This time, with a more secure connection, he checked his mail.

Mostly instructions and more complaints but this time he received a particular e-mail.

[New Message]

To: Toren Shepard

From: Armada Shepard

Subject: I found the Reply option!

He chuckled. This was going to be an interesting email.

It read,

Hey Toren! Good to know you are still looking out for our dearest runt, she would thank you properly but she is too busy working for me.

Brother, we need to meet. We really need to get up to date. It has been long overdue. Andolus can only tell you so much before charging you for overtime.

I know that you have an issue with me 'working' for Cerberus, considering... but you will need the whole story. I can't tell you the full version unless we are face to face.

I have no doubts that you have questions and concerns of your own but if you need me to, I can convince your boss to let you go for a couple days. I'm a Spectre, I can do that.

Love you lots, Armada

He smirked. She didn't need to pull the strings of anyone; he was technically on stand by.

He hit the reply.

[New Message]

To: Armada Shepard

From: Toren Shepard

Subject: RE:I found the Reply option!

Nice of you to drop by, Revenant.

Yes I indeed, need to talk to you. C-Sec would only let me know so much.

My biggest concern isn't actually Cerberus. Shocking, I know. Rather it lay on Darwyn... She's... different. In the bad way. You've no doubt noticed some things of your own. Carelessness, disinterest, her being rougher... These things just aren't normal. What's more is what she did on the Citadel. Not necessarily just her actions in 2184 but when she returned. They don't add up.

Just... Watch her. When I tried she went off the grid.

I would suggest to meet on the Citadel but the Runt has got to stay away for as long as possible.

Arcturus sound good? It'll being back memories! See you at Starlounge.

Toren Shepard.

Citadel Security Investigator.

Zakera Sect.

Unit no.17

Aka: Thorne

/-/

"Commander, you've received a new message at your private terminal."

"Yes, thank you Kelly." She answered as she casually opened her mail before she went upstairs.

She smiled at Toren's email and quickly replied.

[New Message]

To: Toren Shepard

From: Armada Shepard

Subject: RE:I found the Reply option!

Arcturus sounds homey. I'm guessing you picked the place where we used to go that had the pretty waitresses? Maybe I'll enjoy the scenery while you enjoy the view.

I've noted your concerns about the runt. I have indeed noticed differences but I'm in no place to point them out unfortunately.

We shall speak more on Arcturus.

Love you lots, Armada

She nodded, happy that she was going to see her brother before they'd go recruit the last of the dossiers. She made her way to the elevator, saying goodnight to her crew as she did so.

She got out at her stop and overheard loud music from the outside.

She opened the door and saw that Darwyn had already made herself at home.

Her bed was already unmade, her armour was a set of a different colour scheme, her pictures were rearranged on her terminal...

Darwyn was dancing in the pyjamas she claimed from her sister's closet.

"Would you put down that racket?" She asked kindly.

Darwyn pouted and obliged. "It's art, not racket." She insisted. Armada smiled as she walked over to her closet. She pulled out her own sleepwear and changed in the bathroom as Darwyn placed pillows down the middle of the bed, as a sort of no-man's land.

When Armada got out, Darwyn was already in the bed, holding up a datapad that was obviously not hers.

Armada walked over to her side of the bed, the alarm side, and glanced over to what her dear sister was looking at.

It was the picture Wrex took of Garrus and her.

"Taken a liking to that picture?" She asked her sister pulling the covers over her shoulders.

Darwyn smirked. "It reminded me that you almost died then too." She looked over to her older sister. "And that this picture makes you look like a behemoth."

Armada laughed, "And why is that?"

"Because Garrus is really tall! And you get to his height. Like a giant human."

"I'm not _that_ tall."

"Dude, you _tower_ over _everything_ that _breathes_."

"I didn't say I was short, Dwynnie. I think you're just jealous."

"I'm only 5"4 and that means I get to wear heels without imposing anyone height wise." She answered putting the picture down, next to her... where it didn't belong. To keep her mind off of her slight organization urges, Armada continued their pointless conversation.

"So? How was your first day?"

Darwyn smiled. "You've got quite the pilot..."

"He doesn't date crew."

Darwyn was a little surprised at the speed of Armada's answer.

"Well, well, well now. Someone's tried to drive the SR2..." Darwyn chuckled perversely.

Armada rolled her eyes. "He's not my type, Dwynnie."

"Why not? Oh that's right. You only like 'exotic'." She smiled, leaving her eldest sibling without further explication.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Darwyn shrugged her shoulders and turned around to face the aquarium wall. "Oh gee, I don't know. You may have the hots for a certain crew member that has gained quite a lot of scar tissue. And by that I don't mean Jack."

Armada tried to deny something that Darwyn already knew. "What? Mordin?"

Darwyn laughed and the vibrations carried through the

mattress. "No! Of all the people you use to distract me you take Mordin?" She giggled. "Unless I seriously misread you..." She smirked.

Armada shrugged her shoulders and turned towards the other wall, leaving them back-to-back on the bed.

"Then who?" She knew that Darwyn could see right through her but the more she could deny her, the longest her sanity, and frustration, could hold.

"I know you think interspecies relationships are impossible, to the exception of asari of course. But know that your family doesn't care much for races that you happen to fancy." Darwyn tried to sound reassuring, but the previous Mordin name drop made it sound like a joke.

"Ya, ya." Armada answered, pushing back the thoughts about the turian.

"Just know that Toren will approve. They worked together in C-Sec. I approve because I'm your moral support and Century approves because she probably knows everything about him anyways."

Armada smiled. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She added innocently.

Darwyn scoffed and replied, "That's what you say now but you'll thank me later."

Armada waited to figure out what to say during the silence between them. Something to make her as uncomfortable as she was at the moment.

"Joker isn't a people person."

Darwyn smirked and replied rather quickly. "I'll remember that." She smiled, "Goodnight Mads."

"Night Dwynnie."

-/-

"Why are we stopping here Toren?" Fang asked as they pulled into Arcturus station.

The three officers who volunteered for the new investigation were to take a shuttle straight to the colony but Toren had requested a detour once on Arcturus.

"You go on without me. I can catch the next shuttle." He smirked as he jumped off. More and more people loaded onto the shuttle, scurrying to get on before its departure.

"Bailey didn't want any of us to be late." Baldersons, the other officer, yelled.

Toren smiled and kept walking.

'_I won't be._' He thought.

He shuffled through the crowd and turned to wave to the officers in the shuttle before it would take off.

Baldersons waved back with a smile but Fang crossed his arms and shook his head with a smile, disapprovingly.

Toren smiled and scurried off avoiding the curious glances of the Arcturian people eyeing up his particular C-Sec uniform.

He remembered Arcturus. He was actually quite fond of the place.

Everyone has a point in their life when they realize who they were. For Toren, he was on Arcturus.

He dodged into the subway before the doors closed and grabbed the rails in the overcrowded car. He seemed to blend in very well in crowded spaces.

He got off three stops later and made his way towards the commercial quarter.

The station itself wasn't as glamorous as the Citadel but then again, it didn't have to. It was a military station before anything else.

The walkways reminded him of the Citadel though. Bunches of people here and there, advertisements overhead, shuttles driving on the skyways going way over the allowed speed limit...

The only thing missing was the blend of aliens.

There was the occasional extraterrestrial but far too few for his liking.

He found an area map to his right and quickly perused it for the Starlounge, hoping that it was still in business.

His gaze went down the cafe list rather quickly until his investigator mind took over. To his right was a very silent person.

He, or he assumed was a he, was covering his face with a hood while leaning on the area map, his back facing Toren.

"Excuse me?" Toren asked politely, trying to act touristy.

The shadowed man turned his head slightly towards Toren, not revealing one inch of skin.

"Yes?" He answered. His voice was coarse and had a light rumble to it. He wasn't impatient nor sounded disturbed. He was just leaning against the map, much like he was blending in. He had a certain natural allure of camouflage to him… definitely not human. Humans were bulky. The only good infiltrators have tech to help them out.

"Do you know where the Starlounge is?" Toren asked. He knew very well where it was but this mysterious man was intriguing.

"Is the map not accurate?" He answered, unmoving. Toren couldn't yet identify his species.

"I can't seem to find it." He shrugged. Lie again.

With a silent sigh, the man got off of the post with more grace than most dancers. The black cloak flowed with his movements as he turned towards Toren. He wore light black armour designed for flexibility, alacrity and sudden movements. The scratches, as few as they were, were filled with red lining. The trim of the hood of the cloak was trimmed with the same red colour.

Toren had to concentrate on his face to notice his features. The hood did its job well.

A line down his chin and bottom lip, the gill like texture on his cheeks that proceeded down the neck to the neckline, flattened nose, scaly yet smooth looking skin.

"You're a drell." Toren stated as the drell scanned the map with his insanely quick eyes.

"What gave me away?" The drell's lips curved lightly and briefly before returning to the void expression.

Toren chuckled. "I think it might be the teal skin tone."

"Teal? I was told it was a bluish green." He shrugged. He tapped somewhere on the map. "Starlounge." He turned to Toren while the map gave the coordinates to Toren's omnitool. "I've heard they've got beautiful waitresses."

"If you like the human sort that is." Toren smiled. He didn't know why but deep down he thought the drell was pretty cool. Not Shao _cool_, more like Andolus _cool_.

"Humans react strangely to drell." He commented.

"Hows that?" Toren asked, now that the conversation was picking up.

Toren was grateful he had met drell before, or else the memory narration would have creeped him out a bit.

"The young human turns around. She looks in my direction. Smiles. She's missing a tooth. "Are you a fish?" She asks. The man beside her laughs. "No dear." He says. "Why is he green?" She asks again. The older human rolls his eyes and leaves."

The drell went out of his daze. "I apologize. We slip into memories quickly."

Toren smiled. "It's all good dude. I've met drell before."

The drell nodded. Before Toren could resume the conversation questions he had lined up, the drell slowly slithered into the darkness.

"Till we meet again." He saluted.

Toren barely had enough time to say goodbye before the drell was completely gone from sight. Toren chuckled. He already tried to catch a drell, wasn't going to happen. He followed the directions to the Starlounge until he saw an old dance studio.

It was falling apart. Toren knew it had seen better days.

'Michelangelo's Tiptoe's' it was now called. He used to know it as 'EADG' for the East Arcturus Dance Group. It was an amateur studio where military families brought their kids to get some exercise. They had little choice in what programs were available that would fit the schedule.

Toren remembered taking the courses seriously, as he picked up girls quickly after doing some breakdance or whatever else he'd learnt.

Darwyn hadn't liked most dances until they did Hip hop and contemporary. She was more of a photographer than a dancer anyways.

As for Armada…

Well, contrarily to popular belief she was a beast a coupled dances. Any duo in partnered dances and she'd beat them all. Line dances, salsa, meringue, tango, ballroom, you name it, she probably aced it.

She was so good that the EADG wanted to sign her on for tours until she decided to join the Alliance.

He supposed that with all her time in the military she forgot how to dance. Hopefully she still knew to sing though. He remembered that she was fairly good at it.

He kept walking for a couple blocs, supporting the gazes of the arcturan citizens until he found the cafe he was looking for.

It had seen better days too. The Starlounge had gotten cheap over renovations as multiple structural weaknesses could be seen yet the 'patio' was full. He walked up to the hostess and asked for a table for two. She was giving him 'the eyes' and he found it hard to decline her offer. It was one of those 'I finish in 15 minutes' looks.

She led him to the front of the patio giving him multiple choices. He sat next to the small ship display and waited for his company to arrive.

\\-\\

"Bring back any good memories Joker?"

Armada's arm was covering the neck rest of her pilot's seat as they pulled into Arcturus station.

"Yeah. Good brittle memories." He snarked. He looked over his shoulder. "Isn't it strange going in a civilian-ish populated station in your armour?"

"If I know anything about my brother, he will be armed as well."

"And you do know our brother." Darwyn snickered. "I bet he will take you out on target practice. See who's the best marksman."

Armada chuckled. "Obviously it's me."

"I won't bet on it. You've been out of practice and he's had an interesting couple of years..." Darwyn replied, crossing her arms.

"What are you implying?"

Joker replied instead, "He had to defeat a whole platoon of pirates in space, on their own ship, on his own while his partner managed to pilot the ship. Some are saying he should be made a Spectre."

Armada was impressed of course. But Toren would always be her younger brother who could never get 100% bull's-eyes.

"Pulling in Commander. Might need your voice to authorize. Never know with a Cerberus ship."

Armada nodded and stood in her typical commanding position, 'at ease'.

\\-\\

She started to see the cafe where Toren was seated. The Starlounge. Renowned for it's delightful mohatoes and lovely view of the Arcturus Arena parking lot where Armada used to pull Toren and Darwyn both out of fights. "_Lovely_." She reminisced. "_Hasn't changed_."

She put her eyes back onto her brother as she got near. Surprise, surprise! He was going sweet on the waitress.

She walked up behind them and cleared her throat. "Hello Brother."

Toren smiled and turned quickly. He still looked the same, a couple scratches and bruises were new but all in all, he was still the same brother she had left behind two years ago.

"Mads!" He got up and hugged her strongly. "It's great to see you!" She smiled and returned the familiar feeling.

"Likewise Toren."

He took her by the shoulder and examined her. "At least you aren't taller. That's a plus."

She rolled her eyes and gestured towards the waitress, who was now serving another table. "Is that my future sister in law?"

He scoffed. "Highly unlikely." He smirked and they both walked towards one of the more private rooms. They'd inevitably end up talking about classified stuff. Every Arcturus cafe had such rooms - it being primarily a military station. Armada recognized a couple faces already but kept to herself. This was no time for multiple reunions. Words had to be shared with her brother.

They entered the farthest room and checked for listening devices upon instinct. Any uttered word between Shepards would be a huge paycheck for any slicer.

Armada smirked and sat down with Toren across from her.

"So! Have you found any of your fathered children that I didn't know about during my absence?"

Toren scoffed, buffing his chest. "I have no doubt of their existence but Mads, please refrain from distracting me while I have a go at having a civilized conversation."

She smiled. "Oh, I apologise, Mr. Csec."

He glared at her playfully and crossed his arms on his chest.

"So!" He started. "What the hell happened to you in 2183?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't want to know the bravado crap you give the news reporters. I want the truth."

"Toren, I don't know how to tell you without it sounding ridiculously impossible."

"Try me! I believed you when you said you spoke to a reaper and that's pretty far fetched." He urged. "Go on. I can take it."

"I ... " She sighed. "_Here goes..._"

"Toren, I died."

Toren waved it off. "That's the official story. Your crazy card won't work for that one."

"Toren." She repeated. "I died."

"You are stubborn." He sighed. "Mads, if you died, how the hell are you still here, talking with me."

On a normal day, that logic would make pure fucking sense. But the situation made anything but.

"Would you like me to relay how the events occurred or do I need to make you talk with Joker."

Toren frowned. "What does this have to do with Joker...?"

"What did the Alliance tell you about what happened near Alchera?"

Toren dug into his memory. "They said that the SR1 was attacked by a geth ship. That you didn't manage to get to an escape pod."

"And what happened to me?"

"... You got spaced?" He shook his head. "Dude, what the hell. You're here now. Obviously you survived somehow."

"No Toren." She looked dead into his eyes. "I didn't. You grew up ship to ship with me your whole life, we both know what happens when you get spaced."

Toren had issues grasping this fact. Situation A didn't add up to the result of situation B.

"So you are telling me that... You were... Brought back to life?"

Armada nodded, hoping he could fully understand.

"But... how?"

"With a fuckton of resources. That's how."

"Oh shit!" He put his voice down. "Like dead, dead?"

"Toren there is only one definition for being dead."

"I know but... Damn." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Could have let me down a little smoother... How the hell am I going to bullshit that?"

"Tell them the truth. They won't believe you any more than you did me."

"Point." He smirked. "I suppose I can always make something up. Like you led the Normandy into a two year drunk cruise." One look from Armada was enough to say that was a bad idea. He gestured to her body. "So how does it feel? New body and all?"

"It feels... Different. Don't misunderstand, they did a great job at bringing me back but they removed certain imperfections along the way." She squinted a little. "And added. My arm still feels weird. Oh and Akuze was erased completely. I don't know how to feel about that."

Toren nodded. "You do look kinda look off without your scars." He picked up a toothpick from the centerpiece. "Maybe if we... draw them back on?"

"Toren, if that toothpick gets any closer to my face, _you're_ going to need a resurrection."

"Fine. Spoil sport." He chuckled. "Don't need to warn Lazarus about me. I don't want to join his club or anything like that." He started to fiddle with the toothpick, twirling it around in his fingers.

"What did you say?"

"It was a reference." He looked up and saw Armada's surprise. "What?" He shrugged.

"You said _'Lazarus'_ didn't you?" She asked leaning in.

"Yeeess." He raised an eyebrow. "Why? What's with Lazar..." He stopped. His brain assuming control over his connections.

Armada sat there for a while, repeating his name as his vision just zoned out.

"How long did it take for Cerberus to bring you back?" He snapped, out of his trance.

Armada eyed him curiously, 'What are you getting at...?' She wondered.

"It took them two years. And they weren't completely finished before they were betrayed."

Toren stored that information aside, safely stocked in his information bank. He might use it later.

"So you're a work in progress?" He answered, slightly changing his mind track.

Armada chuckled. "Good enough to kick your sorry ass."

Toren smiled, smugly. "No infiltrator is going to take me down."

Armada shook her head and continued. "I'm not an infiltrator anymore either."

"Get out!" Toren didn't think that changing classes was even possible.

"I'm an engineer now."

"How... Actually I don't want to know. Cerberus did good if you ask me."

She knew this topic would come up sooner or later. "Ok, your turn. I've endured everyone else's bashing of me 'with' Cerberus. Go on. I can take it."

"What do you want to hear? That Cerberus is bad? That they're terrorists? Mads, I honestly don't give a shit about who you partner up with, as long as they give you what you fucking _deserve_."

"That's... pretty mature of you to say Toren." She remarked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I'm in C-Sec. I can't afford to be cynical."

" Toren, I know it bothers you. You can say all that you wish, but know that I see right through you."

He broke. His defenses weren't up on time.

"The day you were made an N7 and the day that I got reprimanded, I knew everyone would slap your successes on my and Dwyn face. That very day, I knew you'd define how any Shepard would be seen. To the exception of Dad, may he suffer no more from where ever he is. I was right too, because since the very day you fucking died till now, I was and still am constantly being compared to you. Your mistakes, as few as they are, are always expected to come out of my own. I'm sick and tired of this bull. "

She wasn't expecting this. Little did she know, Toren had no idea how much he kept in after all those years.

"You better use Cerberus. Use every bloody penny they can offer. I'm already being expected to join up with you, so make this - whatever this is - worth it. If you can slip some info my way, that would be great. I'm going to be on one of those distant colonies investigating the disappearances. Anything that you can send would soothe my nights."

Armada didn't like that. Not at all.

"What? No. You have to stay on the Citadel. Where I know you'll be safe."

"Don't worry. I won't cause another political shitstorm. No batarians where I'm going."

"Toren..."

"No Mads, we are not here to evaluate my life choices. Let's not forget _why_ we met."

Armada sighed and nodded. Toren began,

"Here's the sitrep. Dwyn goes bonkers and makes this huge dent in the Council chamber, the size that a Krogan could headbutt into mold. She disappears for two years, two bloody years, deletes all her files before she does. She goes quiet, suddenly she returns. Grabs outdated criminal records from the archives and gets caught. Why would she risk getting caught for this worthless crap?"

He hands over a datapad.

"She retrieved information on a guy called Daniil Pravdin. Some russian madman. Guy's a lunatic.C-Sec shot him in the crossfire in 2179. The guy's long dead."

Armada went over the contents quickly as Toren continued.

"C-Sec wasn't able to track her movements nor were we able to figure out what was so important for her to get these files. Rheault promised she'd check the secure lines for me in case we missed something."

"You investigators are thorough."

"We're paid to be suspicious of anything that doesn't add up or that our guts outright disagree with. With what I've seen, Garrus should have been one."

"Nah. Garrus was born to be my henchman."

"Of course we all know what you mean by henchman." Toren smiled.

'Not you too...' She growled.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just stating obvious facts here Mads. No need to go all Commander Shepard on me." He raised his hands in surrender.

"So, this Daniil Pravdin?" She reminded him.

"Remember the salarian doctor you and Garrus hunted down for us? Doctor Saleon?"

Armada nodded.

"Well, this son of a bitch trained the bastard. He's the mastermind in a way."

Armada's eyebrows rose. "Are their cases related in any other way?"

"Not that we could find out just yet. But there was something that tipped me off. Pravdin's last research project was to uncover methods to 'borrow mental thought and control.' Now you tell me, what does that remind you of?"

"Indoctrination."

"Exactly." Toren lay back on his hair. "Now unfortunately, no one believes anything _I_ bring forward about Reapers considering my ties with you so no one really paid much attention to it. Save Rheault of course."

"Who is this Rheault? You've mentioned her twice now."

"She is my superior. Also the one who single-handedly convinced the Citadel Security leadership to hire me. She's proven to be a great boss."

"She's an asari isn't she." Armada smirked.

Toren shrugged it off. "Now what does that have to do with anything?"

They spoke for a couple more minutes before something seriously started to bug her.

"Oi Toren? Why Arcturus?"

"I was wondering how I'd bring this up." He looked at her then smiled. "I've been tracking down this criminal. Real psychopath. A human no less." He lowered his voice. "I won't lie I've been hoping that I could put your Spectre status to good use. Seeing that it's been reinstated and all."

"Let's just get this straight: I'm no assassin."

Toren shook his head. "Mads, what the hell? I know that. Thing is, this guy is a high ranking Cerberus operative but he is a total maniac! He knows all my moves because I'm with C-Sec but you..."

"I've got the contacts."

"Exactly." He smiled.

"Alright what do you need."

"Well... I'll need an insider..."

Armada wasn't successful in hiding her frown. "An _insider_? And I am...?"

"A _notable_ insider." He smiled. "But what I need is someone with power…"

"_Miranda_." She thought.

"I know just who you need." She got up from her chair and they walked back to the cafe front. Armada used her earpiece.

"Joker? Send Garrus and Miranda to my location."

"Dammit." Joker unintentionally swore into the earpiece. "Will do Commander."

Armada rolled her eyes. "What was it and how much did you bet Joker?"

"I don't know what I was thinking…" Joker sighed. "I bet that you wouldn't call up on anyone while on Arcturus…"

Armada snickered. What was he thinking indeed. "And how much?"

"Just his pride Commander." Garrus replied on the headset. "And 50 credits."

Armada smirked. "Just get your butt over here Vakarian. And bring my XO with you."

"Yes Commander."

Armada turned to Toren, who was leaning against the doorway. Going sweet on another waitress who was blushing at the man in armour.

Armada chuckled and interrupted them.

"While we are waiting, tell me about this guy. What is he guilty of?"

The waitress took her cue to leave.

"Technically he isn't guilty. That's why he isn't in custody but his fingers were all over the scene. Alleris saw him butchering vorcha and batarian children over surveillance but he wiped it clean. By the time we got significant evidence, he got his buddies to ship him off. Disadvantage of being me I guess. Someone drops my name and reveals I'm on the case, every suspect runs. Even when they're just damn witnesses"

Armada smiled. She asked one question and she got the answer to the following six.

"So he might be innocent." She noticed.

Toren turned to Armada. "No. He has been leaving bodies behind since leaving the Citadel. He has a lot to pay for."

Armada looked at her brother once more. He had grown much since she left. She never thought he'd be able to care so much for a bunch of non-human children... And these victims were _vorcha _and _batarian_. Many would have thought that Toren would have a grudge against the batarians considering their acts on Elysium and their presence in his Alliance discharge.

"This one in particular hit something personal brother? You seem much more tense."

"Infanticide." Toren shook his head. "You don't fuck with kids. If I still have breath in my lungs, I'll hunt this bastard till he dies or goes away for a long time to be taken care of by his future cell mates." He growled. "He is human, he makes mistakes. He ran away from the law. And I've come to collect." There was anger in his voice. Armada couldn't help but notice the similarities with her brother and Garrus on the SR1.

"What do you plan to do with him?"

Toren looked in her direction. "Brother I won't let you kill him."

"I know. I don't plan to." Toren continued, changing the subject matter lightly.

"So who we waiting for?"

"Garrus Vakarian and Miranda Lawson."

"Garrus!" He smiled. "Where has he been? It's been ages!"

Armada smiled. "Calm yourself bro, he'll answer that for himself."

"I'm guessing that this Miranda is your Cerberus connection."

"And my self-proclaimed XO." She added. "She is the loyalist type."

"Just your type it seems." He snickered. Toren looked in the crowd of people and spotted the head of a turian bobbing up and down. Considering the turian population on Arcturus was relatively low, Toren took his chances.

He smiled and got off the doorway in one hop.

"Vakarian!" He called out on a whim. He was glad to see Garrus come into view and not some random turian. That would have been awkward.

Toren didn't know Garrus all that well, but the occasions where they'd bump into each other during their time in C-Sec had been cool. Especially the missions.

-\\-/-

"Toren." He greeted nodding his head lightly.

Miranda pushed through. "Commander? What do you need?"

Toren's eyes went wide.

The Cerberus operative wore a white and very snug suit. Her silky black hair and icy blue eyes were enrapturing. She was about his height... which was shorter than his sister, the colossus.

"Toren." She asked, turning her gaze to her secretly smitten brother.

"Huh? Yeah. What?" He asked, unsure of any words were said.

"This is Operative Miranda Lawson." Armada turned to Miranda. "And this is Toren. My brother."

"What my dearest sister means is, Toren Shepard C-Sec investigator." He glanced in his sister's direction. Silently cursing.

"Yes well. That part must have slipped my mind."

Armada smiled. She knew Toren was going to have his hands full if he was going that way.

/-/

Not far from the Starlounge was an agent. An alien agent that somehow managed to stay invisible to thwarted eyes. Not an easy feat, but he was anything but normal.

He squandered in the edges of the light unseen until he wished. His eyes never flinching.

There was someone else there. Watching them too.

And that was the person this one was watching.

That was the person watching them.

/-/

"What did he do now?" The Cerberus handler asked as an N7, Miranda Lawson, a C-Sec investigator and a mean looking turian confronted him.

"You don't need to ask me that Rob." Miranda replied.

"Of course I don't" Rob, a middle aged man, brought up his omnitool and shifted through numerous datafeeds.

"Last time Dan reported was last week. Said some C-Sec guys were framing him for murder." He looked up at Toren. "Your doing I suppose." Toren's poker face remained unchanged. "Let's see he didn't contact anyone outside of Cerberus and..." Rob frowned. "Hang on." He went through the data on his omnitool quickly, going up and down the feeds. "That's strange."

Miranda crossed her arms. "What is it?"

Rob looked up into her eyes and replied. "He hasn't checked his debriefs since he gave in his report."

"Can I see those?" Toren asked.

Rob looked to Miranda and she nodded. Rob transferred the account information to Toren's omnitool.

Toren opened the account without the use of the password.

Rob was uncomfortable having a C-Sec officer obtain Cerberus personnel intel, _right in front of him_ no less. But Miranda Lawson's word was just as good as law in Cerberus, as far as he was concerned.

Toren frowned and looked at Rob. "And this was a week ago?"

"Yes."

"Then we can still trace him." He shut the module on his omnitool and brought up another program.

Miranda dismissed Rob and they followed Toren out.

"Damn!" He swore. "He jammed the signal." He turned to his sister. "If you can shut down the jamming devices on this level and can track him down."

Armada smiled as she put on her visor.

"Let's head out."


End file.
